<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Masquerade by Froggy1988</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25648945">Masquerade</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Froggy1988/pseuds/Froggy1988'>Froggy1988</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Masquerade [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cassarian Month 2020 (Disney), Complete, Costume Parties &amp; Masquerades, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Light BDSM, Masks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:02:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>43,152</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25648945</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Froggy1988/pseuds/Froggy1988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>*Now Complete*</p><p>Drawn home by intimate letters from Varian, Cassandra arrives in Corona on the night of a masquerade dance and is swept off her feet by a beautiful masked stranger.<br/>Five chapters. Rated for explicit sexual scenes in later chapters.<br/>Cassandra X Varian<br/>Cassandra X Mystery Man.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cassandra - Relationship, Cassandra/Varian (Disney: Tangled)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Masquerade [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2247552</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>127</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>116</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Letters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is part of a trilogy, but each story can stand alone. The other parts are The Day of Heart Dance, and Birthday Kisses. Rated for explicit sexual scenes in later chapters.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Chapter One: Coming Home</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>You’re really coming home Cassie?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Honestly? I didn’t just read it wrong? My eyes aren’t playing me tricks and showing me the words I’ve been wanting to read for so long?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Do not worry about going to the masquerade before coming to see me, I can wait till the morning after. I know how much Rapunzel wants you there and it'll be enough for me just to know that you are finally close. Enjoy yourself Cassandra, enjoy being with Rapunzel and Eugene again, they have missed you as much as I have.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  As for the work, the hot water has been installed throughout the land, and we have sold the technology to Equus, which has given a huge boast to the kingdom treasury, not least to mention that I received a quarter of the payment. Rapunzel says that now father spends every other year in the Dark Kingdom I should have my own house; I'm think of buying up a nice three-story town house by the Southgate - do you know the one? It used to belong to Lord Gunther. Though first I must rebuild Dad's farm, it's had so many explosions here I don't think the building is structurally sound anymore. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  I hope its plain sailing for you from now on. I don’t want you to get waylaid and miss the party. I'm sorry to have heard about your experience in the Bay of Bisborn. Just how did you manage to take out all those pirates at once? Or, as usual, are the rumours about your acts of heroism exaggerated? However many times you tell me they are, I still don’t believe you. I think you’re just being modest. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Seven years, I can't believe I finally get to see you after seven years. You're wrong to say that I will be disappointed, I could never be disappointed by you. What I want most is to hear your voice again, so that when I read your letters I can imagine the words being said how you would say them, and to know the ways your lips move when talking so I can imagine you in the room with me. I’m going to take in every singular movement, and gesture and habit, so it will be as if I have you there with me every time I open a letter.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  In a few weeks we will see each other face to face. We will share our stories with each other, we will drink, and talk through the night. and we will get to know each other once again. Though from our letters I feel an intimacy with you beyond that I feel with the people around me every day - do you feel the same? I share so much with you, and you tell me your inner thoughts as if I was your most treasured confidant. Will it be as easy when we are actually together? Will we recognise each other as close friends, or will it be as if we're strangers who haven't seen each other in many years. I hope that our hearts will recognize each other, that we will know that the person in front of us is our close friend, words finally made flesh. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  I hope that I hear your laugh, and it is everything I remember it to be. I hope that you will stay the entire summer and we will ride out together, have adventures and create new memories that we can treasure when we have to once again separated.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Am I saying too much? It's not all the things I wish I could say to you. But I will see you soon, and maybe that will make me bold enough to say the things that I dare not write.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  I remain, as always your most loyal friend.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Varian</em>
</p><p>  Cassandra folded the letter and gathered up the small bundle of papers she had been looking at. They were her most prized possessions, she looked down at the little sketches that Rapunzel had sent her. There were the familiar faces of her friends, her father, and some unknown faces, the new princesses. There in the corner of a colourful page, rendered in immaculate detail was Varian, familiar, but not familiar. Goofy smile, blue eyes, floppy hair, broad shoulders, and thin waist. He was drawn from the side, kneeling on the floor, hand still too large for his body, holding a little doll out to the delighted chubby toddler in a blue dress. The way they looked at each other, with such trust and delight, the picture was beautiful, she ran her fingers over the lines that made up his face wondering how close to life it was. It was just not the relationship on display that made the picture beautiful, the man himself reminded her of the pristine ancient statues of forgotten gods she'd seen on her travels. Fine featured, lean muscles, near perfect proportions.</p><p> </p><p>  Would their hearts know each other?</p><p> </p><p>  For two years now, every time she found a place to settle down she hungrily grabbed up her pen, writing her address down and sending it to Varian. Whenever she was on the road and not able to receive letters she longed for news, longed to know what he was doing, and his perspective on the world around him. His letters, at first the ramblings of a teenager whose head was full of projects she didn’t understand, had over time become full of interesting things, so detailed and wise, and  as time had gone by, she wrote back in kind, sharing her views and inner thoughts until those letters were the thing that sustained her when she felt lonely. As their words had grown in emotional intimacy something else had happened to their letters as well, they had started to be filled with a half hidden longing, a passion, nothing was said outright, they were always skirting around the edges of it.</p><p> </p><p>  Would he be everything she saw in his letters?</p><p>  Would she be what he expected?</p><p> </p><p>  If she were honest with herself, she had come back for him.</p><p> </p><p>  She folded the pictures and put them in the leather satchel, along with the ring her father had given her and the purple gens that had belonged to a necklace broken long ago.</p><p> </p><p>"Just a few more miles Fidella. Are you ready to go home?"</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Masquerade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Disclaimer: The song is Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera, I do not own it, and do not make any profits from it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>,  “Corona.” Cassandra said with a sigh as she rode across the bridge to the island city.</p><p>  Everything looked so familiar too her, this place where she had grown up. She had spent years travelling, constantly surrounded by streets she didn’t know, languages she didn’t speak and people who would come into her life for just mere moments. Of course with Kentaro and the mission it had been different, she’d stayed in one place for a year, but had been constantly aware that she might be found out at any moment. The life of a spy, pretending you belong somewhere when you don’t. Here though, her feet would just know the way because they had waked the paths on a million occasions before, here she didn’t have to pretend, they knew who she was.</p><p>  She saw the guards stiffen as she trotted past them, they turned and look at each other. She didn’t know them, they were not some of the old guards trained by her Father, instead these looked like they were younger than her. She remembered the days when wearing that uniform was the pinnacle of what she wanted to achieve in life, the days when she truly felt that she had been born to protect this kingdom. Then she had acted to destroy it.</p><p>    “Good morning.”<br/> </p><p>   “Good morning Miss, can we ask what your business is in Corona today?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I have an invite, from the Princess Rapunzel.” She answered.</p><p>  The guards looked at each other, for a moment Cassandra wondered if they would stop her. They were being polite, but she guessed she just wasn’t used to being questioned as she walked in and out of the city gates, not Corona city gates at least.</p><p>  “Very well Miss, I assume you know the way.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yes, I do.”  Cassandra answered, she was glad to get moving again, people were starting to stop and stare at her. She could tell by the looks on their faces that she had been right, here people knew who she was, and, it turned out, remembered what she’d done .A part of her had hoped that in the last seven years some of what she had done had been forgotten, and perhaps, seeing as she wasn’t being lynched the moment she entered, it had. She’d never been held accountable for her actions, she’d left quickly, she’d made herself a new person, but here, well, she couldn’t hide from what she’d done all those years before. Here, nobody knew the new person, nobody except the few people she’d stay in contact with through letters anyways.</p><p>  The guards nodded at her and took a step back. She clicked her tongue at Fidella and they started to move up the winding streets towards the castle.</p><p>  “What’s she doing here.” She heard the voice call as she entered the city square. She looked around trying to find the source of the voice, but there were too many people around, and all of them were staring at her. She took a deep breath and encouraged Fidella onwards. She tried to keep looking forwards as she felt dozens of pairs of eyes turn and follow her. She could hear the cloud of muttering following behind her. Just a few more minutes she told herself, then she’d be safe in the caste walls and under the protection of the royal family. Nothing would go wrong whilst she was with her friends.</p><p>  Those few minutes seemed to take her a lot longer. For weeks she had been feeling nothing but anticipation at seeing her friends. Now, so close to them, she could remember not just her childhood spent on these streets, but the dark rocks that had torn the city apart, the rocks that she herself had summoned. It seemed like a nightmare, unreal, a point of her life when her head had been full of thoughts that weren’t entirely her own, she’d been manipulated and used, taken over by anger, and here she was, walking through the scenes of that nightmare.</p><p>  In her job as a spy she’d had to have nerves of steel, but now she was anxious. She tried to remind herself about all the good times, the fact that she had been invited here. To think of seeing the family Rapunzel and Eugene had made, and the man that Varian had grown into.</p><p>  Finally at the gates of the castle, she dismounted. This time she recognised the guards as Stan and Pete. She gave the men a small unsure smile.</p><p>  “Well, look who it is Pete.” Stan said.</p><p>  “She’s looking good isn’t she?”</p><p>  “You’re looking good yourself Pete.” She said with a short smile.</p><p>  “Are you here for the masquerade?”</p><p><br/>  “Yes.” Cassandra searched through her satchel for the piece of paper with the word ‘Maskenspiel’ painted in gold letters at the top.  “I’ve got my invite.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “It’s Okay Cassandra, we got given a heads up that you were coming. In fact, I think we’re supposed to send word to the Princess the minute you arrive.”</p><p>  “She’s been excited to see you.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I’m excited to see her too, how are the little Princesses?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Well Ari is mischievous and keeps playing pranks on us all.” Pete started. “Willow is the artist, Hette is always in the stables though she’s only three so she’s not riding yet, and baby Bea, well she’s cutting teeth.”</p><p>  Cassandra smiled through the tightness in her chest, everything had moved on so much since she was last here. It was okay knowing that her friend had become a mother to four children when she looked at letters. Yet, somehow it hadn’t quite sunk in, and being back here, with the evidence all around her, she started to feel unsure of herself. They were still best friends, weren’t they? Still in some strange way sisters?</p><p>   “Oh, you don’t have to wait, here she is.” Stan said.<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra barely had time to turn around before she was knocked to the floor, she landed hard on the cobblestones, for a moment all she could see of her friend was a light blue dress and short cropped brown hair. Then she looked up, and Cassandra was just filled with a flood of happiness, because there was Rapunzel, with a bright smile on her face, and yes it had been seven years, and yes she was a wife and mother now, but that smile, that smile hadn’t changed one bit, and it was all for her.</p><p>  “I can’t believe you’re here.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “You haven’t changed.”</p><p>  They talked over each other, laughed, and paused, taking each other in. Rapunzel’s hand reached up to Cassandra’s hair. <br/><br/></p><p>  “Even shorter now.” She said.</p><p>  “Yeah, I was in a rainforest, with these bugs that get in your hair, so I just chopped it all off.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “It suits you.”</p><p>  “Thanks, it was long before.”</p><p>  “Is that Cassandrium?” Cassandra asked pointing to the dangling purple earrings her friend was wearing.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yes, Varian made them years back. I asked for them because I knew that you’ve got the only other piece of jewellery made from it, it helped me feel close to you.”<br/><br/></p><p>    “The necklace broke.”<br/><br/></p><p>    “Oh no!”<br/><br/></p><p>    “But I still have it! I was hoping Varian could fix it.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Of course he can. You’re here. You’re really here.” Rapunzel repeated throwing her arms around Cassandra’s neck again. She smiled as she held her friend close, it was all so familiar to her, this friendship, this easy touch and yet she hadn’t had any close friends in her years traveling, the only touch had been from.. well, she wasn’t going to think of him right now. That was over, and she was here now, with her friend who was perhaps slightly more chubby around the waist (as one would expect from somebody who had four children in the space of six years), and who had changed from wearing a floral scent to something a bit more spicy, but was still at heart, she could tell, her friend Rapunzel.</p><p>  “I’ve missed you Cass.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Miss you too Raps.” She whispered into her friend’s hair.</p><p>  Rapunzel looked little cloudy eyed as she pulled away. She wiped her eyes.</p><p>  “Ah, so I’ve had a room set up for you. He girls have been dying to meet the woman I’ve told them stories about, but Eugene has taken them out for the day to wear them out so they don’t need us tonight.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “The big party.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “One of the biggest we’ve had, all of Corona now has running hot water, so cause for celebration.”</p><p>  “All due to Varian.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Who won’t come, which is just like him.” Rapunzel said rolling her eyes. “So, I’ll show you to your room and let you rest up ready for tonight. You’ll meet the girls tomorrow?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “That sounds perfect I’m dying to meet them, but perhaps when I don’t smell like a stable.” At the mention of the word stable, Fidella started clipping across the courtyard, taking the word as an invitation to go find a familiar warm stall and some warm oats.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Ah, they wouldn’t care, but they’re a lot to handle, and I’m not going to release them on you when you’ve just arrived.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Of course they’re a lot to handle, look who their parents are. I mean, I’ve had experience handling two of the Fitzherbert’s, so four mini ones should be okay.”</p><p>  Rapunzel giggled as she got to her feet and gave Cassandra a hand up.</p><p>  “What about two big ones and four mini ones.”<br/> </p><p>“Oh… I think it’s time to leave.” Cassandra joked.</p><p>  Rapunzel caught her arm and linked it with hers as they began to walk through the castle towards the guest chambers.</p><p>  “This place has changed a lot.” Cassandra said, making small talk.</p><p>  “Well, we did a bit of a rebuild.”</p><p>  Cassandra tried to hid the shiver that went down her spine, this corridor, she had fought her best friend in this corridor, and for what? Recognition of a power that never really belonged to her? Never really belonged to anybody as it didn’t belong on earth.</p><p>  “Varian was such a good help, he had so many ideas. You can’t see it, but there’s a lot of modern technology built into these walls.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yep, the kid is smart.” Cassandra said distractedly.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Hardly a kid, he’s older than you were when we first left Corona. He’s the age Eugene was.”</p><p>  Cassandra nodded; she knew that. Of course she did, it was just a slip of the tongue. It was the intrigue of this new fully grown Varian that had tipped the scales when she was deciding whether to come back or not. She was keeping that to herself though, she didn’t want to seem foolish, coming all this way on the back of some letters from a man who she’d not seen in seven years, a man she didn’t really know anymore. If she’d heard any other woman behaving as she was doing now she’d have laughed at them.</p><p>  “This is your room.” Rapunzel said opening a door.</p><p>  Cassandra walked in and looked around a little shocked. She’d been given one of the larger and grander guest bedrooms, one of the ones that should have been held for visiting minor royals and dignitaries. It wasn’t what she was used to, she was used to shared rooms in village taverns, servants’ quarters, hammocks on ships and the cold frozen ground. The seven-foot ide bed was calling to her though, and she closed her mouth as she was about to argue that she’d prefer a room below stairs, she wouldn’t have won against Rapunzel anyways. She dropped her bag on the floor and fell on the bed with a heavy sigh.</p><p>  “Ahh! A real bed at last. Do you know when I last slept in a real bed?”</p><p>  “I’m sorry about Kentaro.”</p><p>  Cassandra was blindsided by the statement, yes, she’d been thinking of the last time she’d slept in a bed, but the person she had been sharing it with had been far from her mind.</p><p>  “It’s okay.” Cassandra said, and it was. It was the first time that she had heard his name since they had gone their separate ways, and she was glad to note that her chest didn’t ache as it had when she’d thought of him in the first few weeks.</p><p>  “It was good for a while, but it didn’t work in the long term, and those last few months, I kept thinking that there may be somebody else better suited to me.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh, is there somebody else?” Rapunzel said throwing herself onto the bed next to Cassandra. <br/><br/></p><p>  “No.” Cassandra said shaking her head. “Forget I said that it’s nothing.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Rapunzel pursed her lips and Cassandra had the feeling that it would be coming back up in conversation at some point.</p><p>  “Well, at least now I have some Kunoichi skills.”</p><p><br/>  “Yeah, you’ll have to put on a display for us sometime. I’d love to see how other people fight, maybe the guards will learn something from it. Ninja’s in training. Did you really fight with a fan? I can’t believe you were a spy.” <br/><br/></p><p>  “Well, my handmaiden training came to good use, it was surprisingly easy to get a place in … well, never mind. We’ll catch up about that later. What’s this?” She said pointing to a large flat box that was lying on her pillow.</p><p>  “Oh, I’m not sure but Varian’s man brought it round this morning.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Varian’s man?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Jin, I think. I don’t know. Varian himself is just back from travelling for a year. You’ll have a lot to talk about when you see him.”</p><p>  Cassandra sat up and reached for the box, taking it’s lid off and seeing a handwritten note laying on the layer of thin paper that was covering the contents.</p><p>   </p><p>
  <em> Cassandra, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>    I am sorry I will not be there tonight.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Will you meet me by the South gate tomorrow, an hour past noon?<br/> </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Your faithful friend, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Varian</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  P.S. I had a feeling you might need something to wear tonight, the sizing was a bit of a guess.</em>
</p><p>  “Well, it looks like I’m meeting him on the edge of town tomorrow afternoon.” Cassandra said.</p><p>  She peeled back the paper and gasped at what she saw. It was a dress, that she could tell, but the material was beautiful, there was a shimmering light green silk that was veiled by a delicate black material, so thin that the green below could be seen and yet at the same time it was like an illusion, the material seeming to change as she ran her fingers over it creating ripples and shadows. She picked it up and saw that it was a rather simple shape but full of intricate details, with a square cut bodice, and a braided golden belt around the middle. Well, not quite golden, more the colour of copper. The black material stopped mid-arm leaving the pale green to flow down in long loose sleeves, and there was a slit in it up one of the sides of the dress where she imagined a glimpse of green would flair out as she danced. It was the most beautiful dress she’d ever seen, let alone owned.</p><p>  “Wow.” Rapunzel said. “He has good taste.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I’ve never seen a dress like this.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Well, maybe it’s from one of the countries he visited. Or maybe he brought home some ideas and asked the dress makers here to create it.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I can’t believe he’d do this.”</p><p>  “Our Varian can be very thoughtful at times. What’s in the other box?”</p><p>  She looked down and saw that there was another smaller rectangle box. She reached for the box and opened it, inside was a gold filigree masquerade mask, the type that only covers around the eyes. It was made up of an arrangement of swirls, and it was held on with black silk ribbons and had a spry of feathers attached to the side, light green, black and gold.</p><p>  “Pretty!” Rapunzel said. “And we’d just found you a paper mask, and I was going to lend you a dress if you needed one.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I have owned dresses you know Rapunzel.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh, so you already had a dress for tonight?”</p><p><br/>  “Well uh…. They’re not really useful for travelling so I left them behind.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Okay then.” Rapunzel said jumping down off her bed. “Shall I get one of the maids to prepare you a bath?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yes please.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Cassandra!”</p><p>  She looked towards the door in time to see Eugene coming in.</p><p>  “Hey Eugene.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Too long Cass.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I know.”</p><p>She was a little surprised as he walked across the room and wrapped his arms around her.</p><p>  She took a moment to look back up at him.</p><p> </p><p>  “Still a pretty boy.” She smirked teasingly.<br/> </p><p>  “Was there ever any doubt?” He said flicking his hair back and grinning widely.  “Wow! Is that you’re dress for the party? And Rapunzel was saying that she was worried it wouldn’t be your thing.”</p><p>  “It isn’t, but I get to spend time with my friends, and make some new memories with them then that’s all that counts.”</p><p>  “I’m so excited.” Rapunzel said. “Do you know that this is the first party where I’ve not been pregnant or breast feeding since my wedding? Or was it Varian’s eighteenth? I can actually have some wine!”</p><p><br/>   Cassandra gave a short laugh.</p><p>  “Is the Princess allowed to be drunk in public?”<br/> </p><p>  “Yes.” Rapunzel said sounding unsure.</p><p>  “In some places I think it’s encouraged.” Eugene said.</p><p>  “And, I’ll be wearing a mask.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “What are you going as?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “The Queen of hearts, and Eugene is going as the King of hearts.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “And that’s going to keep everybody from knowing that you are the soon-to-be- Queen?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Uh…there might be a slight problem in my plan.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Just a slight one.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yeah…”</p><p> </p><p>  “I think you’ll probably be fine having a few drinks.” Cassandra reassured her.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Eugene promised me that he’ll keep a few drinks behind me, and will carry me out to our room if I need it.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I’ll watch your back.” Cassandra reassured her. “If I hear anybody mention that they think the Princess is a little sauced up I’ll let you know.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “What if you get drunk?” Eugene asked.<br/><br/></p><p>  “I can handle my booze. It’ll be nice to have some wine actually, sake is alright, but I prefer wine.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh please, do you remember Varian’s eighteenth? You ended up going home with him.” Eugene scoffed.</p><p>  “Poor little thing he was crushing on you so hard.”  Rapunzel said.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Changing the topic, how many kids do you have now?” Cassandra said quickly.<br/><br/></p><p>  “You know how many kids I have.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I just wondered if anymore had come along, it’s easy to lose count.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Four, it’s not difficult to count to four. You can do it on one hand.” Eugene said scowling at her.</p><p>  “All girls.” Rapunzel said.</p><p>  “Are you going to stop when you get a boy?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Umm, not likely.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yeah, I like it when she’s pregnant.” Eugene said wrapping his arms around his wife and kissing her affectionately on the cheek. “When she’s pregnant I know that I’m not going to get her pregnant.”</p><p>  “Eugene.” Rapunzel groaned. “Come on, let’s leave her to get ready.”</p><p> </p><p>  She gave them a small wave as they left the room.</p><p>***</p><p>  Cassandra heard a knock on the door just as she was pulling on the high heels that the maids had brought her. She opened the door to find Eugene stood there in a black suit which had red heart details on the chest and painted onto the leather of the tops of his black boots. The costume was finished with a gold crown and a read clock. He took a step back, looking at her in surprise.</p><p>  “You look good Cass.”</p><p>  “And that’s a surprise to you?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Honestly, yes, considering you looked like you’d ridden through several hedges when I saw you earlier.”</p><p>  “Can I help you?” She asked pointedly.</p><p>  Eugene smiled and raised the mask he was holding up to his face, it was a black and white check mask with a red and gold heart painted around the left eye.</p><p>  “I’m here to escort you to the party, as apparently proper ladies about to go to parties forget the ability to walk down corridors on their own.”</p><p>  “Why aren’t you escorting Rapunzel?”</p><p>  “She’s being escorted by her Dad, and Arianna is being escorted by a visiting cousin. Where’s your mask?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh.” Cassandra said turning and fetching it from where it lay on her bed. She turned to Eugene who whistled when he saw it in her hands.</p><p>  “That’s real gold.”</p><p>  “It’s not, it’s probably just a really good paint job.” She said as she tried to tie the ribbons behind her head. She jumped slightly as she heard steps behind her and felt a hand push hers out the way.</p><p>  “Oh, trust a retired thief on this one, that’s the real deal. It’s from Varian right? He does have the money for that kind of extravagance, but it’s rare for him to spend it. He must be trying to impress you.”</p><p>  Cassandra’s felt her cheeks grow warm as her fingers touched the cool metal.</p><p>  “I think that will hold. “Eugene said stepping away and holding his arm out to her. She took it and they walked together down the hallways.</p><p>  “Are the Princesses’ asleep?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Pretending to be. Their nurse will get them up to creep down the hall and look through the doors in half an hour or so. She’s been told to get them back to bed before it gets to raucous.”</p><p>  “Do you think it will? Get raucous, I mean?”</p><p>  “They don’t usually, but tonight is a bit different.”</p><p>  “How?”</p><p>  They had reached the doors to the great hall and the two footmen on either side reached forwards and opened the doors. Cassandra gasped.</p><p>  “That’s how.”</p><p>  Cassandra had been in the great hall of Corona castle more times than she could count, but she’d never seen it look like this, and it wasn’t the rebuild or the painted ceiling that made her gasp. It was the grandeur. Since when had Corona been so grand? It had never been a poor city, but in celebrations they’d always gone with quantity rather than quality, but here, this was grandeur to a scale she had rarely seen anywhere in all her travels.  Eugene gave her a light tug and she continued walking into the hall, looking up as she did so.</p><p>  Garlands of foliage were hanging down from the ceiling covered in white roses that looked as if the edges of their petals had been dipped in gold paint. There were statues of ladies in thin dresses lining the walls, they too looked like they were made of gold.</p><p>“Just gold foil.” Eugene whispered to her in a conspiring whisper when he saw her looking.</p><p>  There was a gigantic sun of Corona hanging from the ceiling between two large candelabras with strings of gold beads and pearls. The usual red carpet down the middle had been replaced with a white one with a gold border. At the back of the hall there was a line of tables ladened with all kinds of sweet and savoury treats, the centrepiece of which was a fountain made out of circles of crystal wine glasses stacked on top of each other, each of the eight circles smaller than the previous, making a pyramid. A sprout of clear white wine came out of the top and it fell down, running down the sides of the glasses into a giant basin at the bottom</p><p>  “Varian?” Cassandra whispered to Eugene.</p><p>  “I asked him for a chocolate fountain, but I was outvoted. Apparently wine is classier, and it should be a proper liquid as this is all in celebration of plumbing.”</p><p>  “Varian’s plumbing, but he’s not here.”  Cassandra pointed out. She admitted that she was not one for parties, but even she wouldn’t have turned down a chance to see this if she’d had a hand in planning it and  had known what it was going to be like.</p><p>  “Well, if you ask me, I think he will show up eventually. I mean, I know he does well with his slightly moody genius loner aesthetic thing he does, with the ladies I mean, but he does actually have to be in proximity of the ladies for it to have an effect.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh.” Cassandra muttered.</p><p>  “Oh, you’ve not heard, our Varian is quite the ladies’ man.”</p><p>  Eugene must have seen something darken in Cassandras face because he raised his hands and quickly reassured her.</p><p>  “Still same old Varian though, still more interested in alchemy than anything else, still helping his Dad on the farm, still as geeky and clumsy as ever.”</p><p>  “At least some things don’t change.” Cassandra said.</p><p>  “Must be strange.” Eugene said his voice becoming gentle. “To come back after so long, but I’m happy you’re here Cass. You’ll always have a place here. You know that don’t you?”</p><p>  “Thanks Eugene.” Cassandra said with a smile. They stood there for a moment looking around as the hall was filling up. Most people were wearing normal clothing, well, normal fancy clothing, dresses, and suits of various colours, with masks.  Though some people had more intricate costumes, but for the most part it was the masks that were wonderful, and slightly unnerving. Some were paper mâché and painted simple white, some with quarters of yellow and red, some were black with painted coloured designs of suns and stars, and one a ship on a moonlit night. Others were made of different materials, there were masks covered in leaves to look like woodland spirits, some with feathers to represent swans or crows, and a lot were shaped to look like animals with elongated beaks or short snouts, with horns or pointed ears coming out of the top.</p><p>   The room was quietening, and people were turning to face a high stage that had been set up to the left of the room. Eugene quickly squeezed her shoulder.</p><p>  “That’s my cue, got to go get this party started.” He gave her a low bow with a comically overdone flourish. “But madame, if you will do me the honour of saving me a dance later in the evening. I do believe that dress is begging for a chance to move.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra gave a small smile. Years past she would never had danced with Fitzherbert, but years had passed, and they were different people now.</p><p>  She gave a curtsy in return, showing that she still knew her way around a royal court.</p><p>  “If you speak clothing Fitzherbert, why does yours always have to be so loud?”</p><p> He shushed her.</p><p>  “I’m meant to be incognito.”<br/> </p><p>  With that he made his way through the crowd leaving Cassandra on her own just as a figure appeared on the stage. It was dressed in various furs of different shades of brown and a grand golden mask of a stag with tall antlers coming out of the top. The mask was taken off and King Fedrick beamed out at the guests.</p><p>  “I am stood here,” he shouted across the crowd, “with my family, my friends and my most beloved subjects, to celebrate a new golden age of Corona!”<br/> </p><p>  A large cheer came from the crowd.</p><p>  “Corona is the first of the seven kingdoms to have hot running water. In every house in this kingdom! Our treasury is full from selling the technology, our lands are at peace, and one of the best harvests in decades has been predicted.”</p><p>  There was another loud cheer.</p><p>  “It has taken a lot of work from all of you to bring our Kingdom into this new golden age, and I thank every single one of you, for putting up with the disruption, for allowing this new technology into your houses, for working on the plumbing and sewage systems, for dedicating your time and energy to meet this goal! And I think that you will all want to give a loud thank you to the man who came up with all the plans, and as such, I am pleased to announce that Lord Varian will henceforth be Viscount Varian! Is he here?” King Fedrick said looking around the crowd, his excitement soon turning to puzzlement, Cassandra noticed Eugene appearing at the corner of the stage, the King tilted his head towards him. Then looked back to the crowd with a discrete cough.</p><p>  “A man who works so tirelessly for us all, that he’s not been able to make it tonight due to … his next project. Anyways! I’m sure somebody will pass the message on. Without further ado, let the dancing begin!”</p><p>  The Queen of Hearts, in a black and red dress with a large hopped skirt, and King of hearts walked onto the dance floor to another loud cheer. Cassandra smiled as she watched her friends begin to waltz around the floor to the slow strumming of a string quartet. Cassandra noticed how much more graceful they both seemed. If she hadn’t known who was beneath the costumes and masks she would have believed that it was a Prince and Princess who had spent their entire lives raised in the courts, not her adventuring friends. She gave a small smile, Rapunzel had found her balance, between her natural eager self and the rules and grace of a Princess, and it was beautiful.</p><p>  As they danced the King stag and a gentle doe in a brown and gold dress joined them. Soon even more couples were joining them in the dance. The couple behind her pushed past, and she felt it was time to get out of the way. She made her way through the papier-mâché and occasional metal masks to the tables of food. She took a glass of wine offered her by one of the kitchen maids, dressed in red and black dresses, each with diamonds of spade shapes pinned to their chests.  Then she went to the tables of food and helped herself to a plate. Feeling the long months of travelling catch up with her she found a chair and a small table that had been set on the right side of the hall for people to rest.</p><p>  For half an hour she sat watching the festivities and listening to the music, nobody came near her. Though a few people sat with food on tables some distance from her. She watched the masks as they passed enjoying the artistry and work that had gone into them. Occasionally she would watch people she knew pass only recognisable because she already knew what costumes they had planned to wear. Rapunzel waved at her as she circled close in a dance, at one point pausing and waling over to her.</p><p>  “Are you okay?”<br/>  “Yes, I’m just enjoying the atmosphere.”</p><p>  “Shall I come and sit with you?”</p><p>   “It’s okay, you look like you’re having fun. Enjoy yourself, come and find me when you get tired, I’ll save you some of these little duck pastry things, they’re good.”</p><p>  “Okay.” Rapunzel said with a smile. “Just a few more songs then.”</p><p>  As Rapunzel walked away there was a change in music, and Cassandra watched as a small group of costumed people took the stage and started singing.</p><p>
  <em>  “Masquerade!<br/>Paper faces on parade<br/>Masquerade!<br/>Hide your face so the world will never find you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Masquerade!<br/>Every face a different shade<br/>Masquerade!<br/>Look around, there's another mask behind you”</em>
</p><p>A light cough to the side of her startled her out of her concentration on the music.  A man was stood just to the side of her, looking down at her. His face was covered in a golden mask. It seemed to be made up of a multitude of golden filigree leaves, with short branches coming out of the top as if horns. He was wearing oriental type clothing, thick black silk jacket kept shut with knotted tassels, more golden leaves sewed down the front in random places as if they were floating down to the floor.</p><p>  "How is it, that nobody is dancing with the most beautiful woman in the room?" He said.</p><p> </p><p>  Cassandra held back an annoyed groan.</p><p> </p><p>  “I guess you haven't lived here for long."</p><p> </p><p>  "All my life, I'm just going to have to assume that only I can see you, maybe you’re only here because I'm dreaming."</p><p> </p><p>  She couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>  "Is this going somewhere or…?"</p><p> </p><p>  "Dance with me?" The man said, holding a large delicate hand out to her.</p><p> </p><p>  “That’s going to have to be a no.”</p><p>  “Oh, okay then, um… “The man seemed taken  aback. “Is this seat taken?”  He asked gesturing to the chair next to her.</p><p>  Cassandra gave out a large sigh. She just wanted to eat good food, drink good wine, and have a good time with her friends. She had no interest whatsoever in dancing, or making small talk with a man she didn’t know.</p><p>  “Go ahead.” Cassandra said standing up and starting to walk away.</p><p>  “Where are you going?” The man asked.</p><p>  “Anywhere else.”</p><p>  “That was not how I expected that to go.” She heard him mutter as she carefully made her way across the dance floor, trying not to bump into the dancers.</p><p>
  <em>“Flash of mauve<br/>Splash of puce<br/>Fool and king<br/>Ghoul and goose<br/>Green and black<br/>Queen and priest<br/>Trace of rouge<br/>Face of beast</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Faces!<br/>Take your turn, take a ride<br/>On the merry-go-round<br/>In an inhuman race.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Eye of gold<br/>Thigh of blue<br/>True is false<br/>Who is who?<br/>Curl of lip<br/>Swirl of gown<br/>Ace of hearts<br/>Face of clown</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Faces!<br/>Drink it in, drink it up<br/>Till you've drowned<br/>In the light<br/>In the sound<br/>But who can name the face?”</em>
</p><p>  A portrait on the opposite side of the hall caught her eye. She could make out that the portrait had Rapunzel and Eugene sat next to each other. Rapunzel’s arms were cradling a baby, another child on Eugene’s knee, and the two other small girls on either side of them. Cassandra stared at the small faces, each framed by brown hair. This was the first glimpse, apart from a few line sketches that she’d received from Rapunzel, that she’d seen of their four daughters. She felt drawn to them, from this distance she couldn’t make out the details, she wanted to know which of the children had green eyes and which brown, which had their mothers freckles, which had Eugene’s long straight nose. She felt drawn to the family portrait. She turned and made her way across the middle of the dance floor, having to go slowly as the laughing dancers kept sweeping in front of her.</p><p>
  <em>“Masquerade!<br/>Grinning yellows, spinning reds<br/>Masquerade!<br/>Take your fill, let the spectacle astound you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Masquerade!<br/>Burning glances, turning heads<br/>Masquerade!<br/>Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Demon’s whore.”</p><p>  The sneering voice took her by surprise, she looked around trying to figure out where the words had come from. She knew that they had been aimed at her, but there was a lot of people on the dance floor, bright colours, and flashes of masks passing by her.  She felt like the dancers were getting closer, closing into her, but she shook the feeling off and continued to walk.</p><p>
  <em>“Masquerade!<br/>Leering satyrs, peering eyes<br/>Masquerade!<br/>Run and hide, but a face will still pursue you.”</em>
</p><p>  “Excuse me.” She said, trying to get past a couple, one in white feather cloak and one in black feather cloak, both with beaked masks. For some reason they were dancing on the spot, and they continued to block her way even after she tried to get passed them. She turned and tried to go round them, but she felt somebody knock into her, almost knocking her down. When she righted herself another couple had swept into the side, blocking her new path. She turned back, and it was then that she realized, it hadn’t been all in her head, she was surrounded by people, all in pairs dancing on the spot in a circle around her. She felt uneasy, she’d not known any dances with moves like this.</p><p>
  <em>“Masquerade!<br/>Seething shadows breathing lies<br/>Masquerade!<br/>You can fool any friend who ever knew you.”</em>
</p><p>“You fooled everybody who ever knew you, didn’t you?”</p><p>  It was a different voice from before, she turned on her heel, taking in the masked faces, they all seemed to be turned towards her now. Then they were moving as one closer to her, closing in.</p><p>  A wolf, a bear, a dragon. Grimacing faces, shadowed eyes. Spinning quickly, blurs. Glinting metal. She felt her chest growing tight. Was there something wrong with the wine? She felt dizzy.</p><p>  “Witch.”</p><p>  She felt a cold tremble run down her back. She looked around trying to find Rapunzel, or Eugene in the crowds past the closing in circle of animal masks, but she couldn’t find them.</p><p>  “You don’t belong here.” A gold pig rushed at her, face and voice twisted in a growl. She found herself falling backwards, landing hard. There was a cackling laugh, but she couldn’t hear where it was from. She tried to get on her feet but as she did, so a swoosh of heavy brocade skirt hit her in the face. A booted foot stamped near her hand.</p><p>  She was finding it harder to breath. She was panicking, she was surrounded by people who hated her, why did she come here?</p><p>  She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she jumped away, losing her balance again and falling back to the floor.</p><p>  “Here, let me help you up?” The voice said.</p><p>  Cassandra looked up; she saw the man in the leaf mask who had asked her to dance earlier. She looked around and found that the circle of people had backed off slightly as if weary of the man in front of her, and a pathway between them had opened. There were whispers between them that she couldn’t make out, and then the people, animals, she wasn’t so sure anymore, started to disappear into the rest of the dancers. She looked back up at the man and noticed the eyes behind the golden mask were a pale blue. There was something familiar about them, something she couldn’t quite place, something that made her take the proffered hand.</p><p> She was pulled to her feet, a hand on her back was leading her through the room. She had been right, people were backing away from the man next to her. Their path off the dance floor was a lot easier than hers had been minutes before. People were clearing their way.</p><p>  Within moments she was led out onto the balcony and into the cool nights air. The music quietening as the door shut behind the stranger. Cassandra took a deep breath, her head starting to clear.</p><p>  “Are you okay?” A soft low voice asked.</p><p> </p><p> “Yes, just a… a dizzy spell.” Cassandra lied, looking down at her shaking hands and placing them on the marble wall trying to hide her nerves.</p><p> </p><p>  “It's easy to get overwhelmed.” The voice came from so close behind her that she turned startled, and found herself standing inches away from the man.</p><p> </p><p>  “Tipsy with wine, the music, the bright colours, not able to tell whom is whom.”</p><p> </p><p>  Suddenly she felt nervous, she looked over her shoulder. She was out where nobody could see her, with a stranger whose face she could not see, in a town where most people hated her. She could see the ground from over her shoulder, it was far below her.</p><p> </p><p>  “Let me get you some water.” The man said gently. “I’m sure it will help.”</p><p> </p><p>  The man left her stood on the balcony. She took a deep relieved breath and looked around trying to figure out what to do next. She wanted to leave, but to do so would mean walking back through the hall of hostile, probably drunk people, who she couldn’t hold accountable if they hurt her as she couldn’t see their faces.  Maybe she should just wait, have a glass of water, and then leave when she was feeling slightly less vulnerable. If the stranger with blue eyes had meant to hurt her then he wouldn’t have left her alone on the balcony where she could easily escape him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Talked All Night Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have been very good in writing this as I just wanted to work on my new lion King/Tangled cross over, and made myself sit down and write this because I need to finish at least one WIP before I start another.</p><p> </p><p>The ball was supposed to all be one chapter but it keeps getting chopped up because it goes through a range of emotional changes and it feels like each one need a chapter change.. I don’t know… let’s see how it goes. This story is giving me so many problems but I'm determined to finish it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>  “My lady?” </p><p>  Cassandra jumped; she’d been thinking about the crowd of menacing masks, chastising herself for her panic. She turned to see the man in the golden leaf mask, he held out a glass of water to her. She was disgusted at herself when she noticed her hand trembling as she took it.</p><p>  “Thank you.”</p><p> “Are you okay?” The man asked sounding concerned. She took a deep drink and shook her head plastering on a fake smile, she was used to the act these days.</p><p>  “I’m sorry, it’s just as you said, wine, dancing, crowds of people. It’s easy to feel disorientated.”</p><p>  “Is that why you fell?”</p><p>  Cassandra nodded. She didn’t feel she could explain what had happened, didn’t even know how to describe the menace of the masked dancers who had closed in on her, and even if she could she didn’t know whose side the young man in front of her would be on.</p><p>  “I hope you haven’t hurt yourself.”</p><p>  “No, just my pride.”</p><p>  “I’m sure everybody has fallen over in front of people at some point in their life.”</p><p>  “Not me.” She downed the rest of the water. “All I wanted was to spend the night with my friends, have a good time, share something other than just letters and memories for once.”</p><p>  The man frowned slightly below his mask.</p><p> “Of course you would want that.”</p><p>  She was puzzled at his strange tone and was going to ask if he was alright when the frown turned back to a smile.</p><p>  “And of course you deserve it. “He held his arm out to her. “If I may escort you back to your friends, you are a guest of the Princess and Prince Consort, yes?”</p><p>  “Yes.” Cassandra said hesitating as she took his arm, she had to remind herself that she was at a party full of polite society, so she had to at least act like a lady. It felt terribly refining to have to follow the prescribed gender roles after so many years when she could just be herself.</p><p>  She felt her nerves rising as the man walked her into the hall, but as she looked around she couldn’t see any of the masked people that had insulted her. That didn’t mean that they weren’t there though, there were a lot of people in the hall, and masks could easily be swapped. She saw the King and Queen of hearts sat at a table to the side and pointed them out to the man besides her. He nodded and guided her over to them, dropping her arm as he did so.</p><p>  “Hey! You’re here!” Eugene said shocked as he looked between Cassandra and the masked stranger.</p><p>  “We were just outside, getting some fresh air.” The man next to her answered for her. He bowed to Rapunzel and Eugene, before turning back to Cassandra.</p><p>  “Well, I have delivered you into safe hands. So, I’ll let you make your memories.”</p><p>  “What was that about?” Rapunzel said as the man walked off. “I thought he would stay around for a little bit, especially when he arrived so late.”</p><p>  “Never mind him.” Cassandra said. “I think I was promised a dance.”</p><p>  Eugene stood up and bowed to her.</p><p>  “Not you Fitzherbert.” She said with a laugh as she grabbed Rapunzel’s hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. She knew how to act, she knew how to keep smiling as she felt unsteady and anxious. She didn’t want Rapunzel to know her fears, to know how uncomfortable she felt here.  She didn’t want to ruin the night for her friends, and if she pretended well enough, well, she’d probably even be able to fool herself for a little while.</p><p>***</p><p>  Cassandra gave a breathless laugh as she dropped into her seat. Eugene somehow didn’t quite make it into a chair and instead flung himself down with a heavy thud onto the tiled floor at Cassandra’s feet.</p><p>  “Jeez, Cass, that was … vigorous.”</p><p>  Cassandra found herself truly laughing as she reached for her drink. Somewhere deep inside of her was still a feeling of anxiety, and yet here dancing and drinking with friends, it was as if the years had not past, it was as if a whole heap of things had never happened, there was something natural and carefree about being here with them.</p><p>  “Hey!” Rapunzel laughed. “Stop wearing my husband out!” She pulled a cupcake apart and popped some into her mouth. “I might need him later.”</p><p>  Cassandra snorted.</p><p>  “That’s not what I meant! I meant for dancing.”</p><p>  “When did you get so dirty minded?” Eugene asked.</p><p>  “I didn’t say anything!” Cassandra smiled.</p><p>  “You insinn…insinu…what’s that word?”</p><p>  “You’re drunk.” Cassandra pointed out. “Did you stay two drinks behind Rapunzel? Like you promised?”</p><p>  “Of course.” Eugene said managing to look offended, in a petulant child kind of way.</p><p>  “People are looking at us you know; I don’t think they expected their Prince to be sat on the floor.”</p><p>  “There’s a lot I do that they don’t expect a Prince to do.”</p><p>  “I know it.” Cassandra said.</p><p>  “Hey!” Rapunzel said suddenly. “I thought he’d already left.”  Cassandra followed Rapunzel’s gaze across the hall and saw the man with the golden leaf mask and the black clothing heading towards the doors.</p><p>  “Huh?” Eugene said. “He’s being so strange, where’s he been all night?”</p><p>  Cassandra was about to ask who he was, when Rapunzel reached over and took her hand.</p><p>  “Aren’t you going to dance with him?”</p><p>  Cassandra pulled her hand away, she was a bit taken aback at the idea of dancing with a stranger, and that Rapunzel would suggest it.</p><p>  “No, I just want to spend my time with you guys.”</p><p>  “He’s looking at you. You know, I saw him looking at you earlier in the night too. I think he’s barely taken his eyes off you.”</p><p>  Cassandra felt her cheeks growing hot.</p><p>  “He’s probably just waiting for me to fall over again.”</p><p>  Eugene snorted.</p><p>  “You fell over? And I’m meant to be the one who’s drunk.”</p><p>  “I wasn’t drunk, I just tripped, you try walking around in high heels and a long skirt.”</p><p>  “I have, plenty of times, and I never once tripped.”</p><p>  “Oh not another story about your Flynn Rider glory days!”</p><p>  “He’s leaving.”  Rapunzel said nudging Cassandra again. “So, if you were to want to dance with him, now’s your last shot.”</p><p>  “I do not want to dance with him. “Cassandra gave a sigh. “But I probably should go and thank him for helping me. I’ll be back in a minute.”</p><p>  “Take all the time you need.” Eugene called out to her as she ran across the dance floor, this time watching her feet the entire way to make sure that nobody tripped her.  Sher caught hold of the man’s sleeve just as he was heading through the door.  He turned and looked at Cassandra, eyes wide and lips slightly apart.</p><p>  She dropped his sleeve and felt a blush climb up her cheek.</p><p>  “Are you leaving sir?”</p><p>  “Yes, I’ve enjoyed the food, and the wine.” He said. “I’m not sure about the company though, I spent most of the night talking about gophers with a man called Shorty, or Susan, he didn’t seem too sure.”</p><p> </p><p>  "Well, uh…Thank you, for your help earlier."</p><p> He looked at her, and stepped back into the room.</p><p>  " I owe you an apology."</p><p>  "Oh?” Cassandra was once again taken aback. “How? I don't think you owe me anything?"<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  "For the terrible flirting." He said sheepishly</p><p>  Cassandra found herself giving a small laugh when she remembered how the man had come up to her at the start of the party.</p><p>  "Well, at least you recognise it was terrible."</p><p>  He gave a soft ironic smile, and something in Cassandra softened a little towards him.</p><p>  "I know that you just want to spend the night with your friends, but would you give me another chance? Not a dance, something that lets us talk, perhaps a short walk in the gardens? “</p><p>  Cassandra hesitated to look over her shoulder. Eugene had moved to rest against Rapunzel’s knees now, as she ran her fingers affectionately through his hair. It was good to see them so happy together, but she had been gone for two minutes and it was as if the bubble she had been in with them had closed back up leaving her on the outside once again.</p><p>  “I'll get you back to your friends with plenty of time to enjoy the rest of your night with them, I promise."</p><p>  “It’s almost midnight, I don’t know how much more of the night there is.”</p><p>  “This one is set to go till dawn.”</p><p>  She hesitated and jumped slightly as she felt a hand gently touch her gloved one. She took a surprised step back, pulling her hand away quickly.</p><p>  “I’m sorry.” He said. “I’ve forgotten to ask how you are after your dizzy spell earlier?”</p><p>  “Oh, I’m fine.” She said dismissively.</p><p>  “You’ve stayed away from the wine then?”</p><p>  “Yes, just a beer washed down with a lot of water.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Probably safer.”</p><p> </p><p>  He was staring at her, and she found herself looking away from him feeling uncomfortable under his scrutiny.</p><p> </p><p>  “You really do look glorious.”</p><p> </p><p>  She felt her cheeks grow even hotter. She should just give him an answer, a walk, within the grounds, where there was the relative safety of the castle and her rooms nearby, there would be no harm in it, not really. She opened her mouth to reply but he spoke first.</p><p> </p><p>  "I'm not accustomed to being the one to try and impress women. They're usually after me."</p><p> </p><p>  The arrogance of him! Cassandra’s face snapped up to his.</p><p> </p><p>  “I think this should be goodnight.” She turned to leave but felt that hand grabbing hers again as she did so. She turned to glower at him but hesitated at the nervous look in his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>  "You make me nervous! Your knowledge, your strength, your determination." He blurted.</p><p> </p><p>  "You don’t know me.”</p><p> </p><p>  "Everybody has heard of you. I end up sounding like a fool because I just want to know you. You seem to me a person very worthwhile knowing, and there’s nobody here whose company I would prefer. A walk? Just a walk, just to hear your stories."</p><p> </p><p>  Cassandra was once again taken aback; it was turning into a rather unsettling evening for her. This young man knew who she was, she suspected knew her past, and yet still wanted to know more about her. Perhaps he was trying to lure her somewhere alone, to take whatever vengeance he wanted for her having destroyed the city all those years previous, and yet she didn’t think so. There was something earnest about him. Something familiar. She found herself curious, and if she was honest with herself, a little flattered.</p><p>  She glanced back over at Rapunzel, who was leading Eugene back on to the dance floor. They probably wouldn’t mind her disappearing for a few minutes, as for the threatening masked townspeople, well, she had caught glimpses of them but they hadn’t been brave enough to approach her again, and she could remember how they shied away from the leaf masked man at the start of the night. She should just trust her instinct and her own abilities to keep her out of trouble.</p><p>  “Okay. Just a walk.”</p><p>  “And questions.”</p><p>  “I’m not the opening up kind.”</p><p>  “I thought you owed me for rescuing you when you were playing at being a damsel in destress.”</p><p>  “I am never a damsel in destress.”</p><p>  “I believe it.”</p><p>  “Okay, you get three questions.”</p><p>  He gave a short laugh.</p><p>  “Three, come on Ten?”</p><p>  “Five?”</p><p>  “Seven, my final offer, and, ” he said putting up his hand, as if to stop her from arguing “you get to say swap to one of them.”</p><p>  “And you? Do I get to question you?”</p><p>  “Oh, I doubt I am anywhere as interesting as the great Cassandra of Corona, but you can ask. Whether I answer or not is a different matter.” He held the door open for her. They walked in companionable silence for a moment down the wide staircase that would lead them to the castle gardens.</p><p>“What’s your name?” Cassandra asked as they made their way out of the castle and into the cool nights air.</p><p>  “Pass.”</p><p>  “What? Really?”</p><p>  “Well, what’s the point of a masquerade if you know who everybody is?”</p><p>  “I don’t know what the point of these dumb masks are anyways.” Cassandra said her fingers reaching up to the cold gold filigree around her eyes. “It’s not as if they work at hiding who we are as you seem to know exactly who I am. Plus, that means you have me at an unfair disadvantage. ”</p><p>  “Yes, it is unfair isn’t’ it?”</p><p>  Cassandra stopped and watched the man as he took several long strides down the garden path, he turned to look over his shoulder at her when he realised she wasn’t following.</p><p>  “So?”</p><p><br/>
  “So I’m still not telling you.”</p><p>  “But that’s unfair.”</p><p>  “A lot of things are unfair Cassandra, surely you’ve learnt that by now.”</p><p>  She had the distinct feeling that he was smirking at her, but even though lanterns had been set up along all the paths of the garden she could only see the golden glow of the mask and the glint of the bright eyes behind it. He ignored her frustration and bent down to one of the rose bushes lining the pathway. When he turned back to her he was holding a white rose out. “Question one, I’ll keep it simple. “</p><p> He waited for her to take the rose from him, the whiteness of it was ghostly in the moonlight, but it was still releasing its fresh smell into the nights air.</p><p> “What is your favourite memory from travelling?” The man asked.</p><p>  A face instantly flashed into Cassandra’s mind, familiar and angular with eyes so dark you’d get lost in them. That day, when they’d sparred, when she’d finally bested him, the night eating spit roasted pig in a sweet and sticky sauce, the taste of it still on his lips when he had kissed her, the hotness of his hands as they’d found paths over her body that she’d never thought could feel the way they’d felt. She shook her head, it had been a favourite memory, but everything that had come after had tainted it, leaving it bittersweet, and more on the side of the bitter than the sweet. The man was waiting patiently, such a simple question, yet she didn’t know how to answer.</p><p>   “Wow, uh, I saw so many good things. Um.. Bunraku?”</p><p>   “Bunraku?”</p><p>  “Yes, puppets to music.”</p><p>  “Somehow I didn’t think you were the type of woman to enjoy puppets.”</p><p>  “Well, uh.. the stories, they’re complex you know.”</p><p>  “Really, what are they about?”</p><p>  “Well, they’re about…” Cassandra tried to think back to the show that she’d seen when she had first arrived in Japan, it had held her interest, but it was far from her favourite thing and she felt a bit foolish now.  “They’re about the battle between obligations and emotions.”</p><p>  “Ah.” The man said thoughtfully. “Well, yes, now I understand why they might be interesting. Haven’t we all felt torn at times between how we’re meant to act and our personal desires.”</p><p>  Cassandra’s mind travelled back again, those breathless moments, uncovering a man’s body, knowing this was not how she was expected to act, knowing that she had a job to do, but wanting, just wanting to let go of it all for a moment.</p><p>  “Yes, I guess we all have.”  </p><p>  A couple were coming along the path towards them, and Cassandra felt the man’s hand on her lower back leading her gently to the side so that they could pass. She saw the hesitation, the slowing down of the man and the woman as they passed, faces frowning behind papier-mâché masks with dark diamonds over the eyes. Her companion gave a slight bow that the couple did not return. He watched as they hurried away, Cassandra could hear them whispering to each other, she couldn’t make out the words, but she could hear the scandalous tones. Whoever her companion was, he wasn’t winning himself any friends being seen with her.</p><p>  “Which route shall we take?” He asked her.</p><p>  “I don’t know, It looks like they’ve done a lot of replanting.”</p><p>  “Yes, the gardens only just really come back into its own this year.”<br/>
 </p><p>   It had been ruined by the black rocks, she remembered, the ones that had been following her command. She tried to brush the thoughts from her mind.</p><p>  “Are you a fan of gardening?” She stuttered, trying to find a way to draw the conversation away from that direction.</p><p>  “I’m a fan of plants if they’re useful.”</p><p>  “So, not roses?” Cassandra said lifting up the rose that was in her hand.</p><p>  “Not particularly.  This way I think.” He said leading her down a path to the left that seemed to lead to a walled section of garden.</p><p>  Their footsteps disturbed the still coolness of the night, the sounds of the merrymaking now in the background. It was refreshing to be in the still and quiet of the gardens after the business and noise of the hall. All the colours of the flowers were muted and darkened in the pale light of the lanterns, it was almost a relief after the party where every colour imaginary had been on display, whizzing past in the dancers costumes, reflected in the polished marbles and golden statues. A too bright parody of nature.</p><p>  Except, Cassandra realised, not everything was as still and quiet as she had first thought. A rustling and a gasp came from the side of them, Cassandra looked around in the darkness, seeing human shaped shadows against the brick wall they were coming up to. Her hand automatically reached to her side, but her gloved hands only ran against the bone of her hip, and not the solidness of her dagger, she gritted her teeth in annoyance. If she wanted her knife she would have to unhook it from its hidden belt on her calf.</p><p>  A hand was on her back again, and she found herself battling back annoyed words, what was it with parties and gentlemanly behaviour that somehow meant women were no longer able to walk on their own without assistance? She looked up at the man, and he met her eyes before pointedly looking ahead. The message clear, they were walking past, they were pretending not to notice. Cassandra followed his lead; though she did pause just as they were about to walk through the gateway into the walled garden to check that the woman was okay. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the man reaching beneath the woman’s skirts. A giggle filled the air, yep, Cassandra thought to herself, she wasn’t in need of any help. She joined her masked companion in the walled garden, as she walked deeper in she could detect the difference in the smell, from the floral gardens outside to something earthlier, and peppery.</p><p>  “Are you alright, my lady?”  The man said quietly.</p><p>  “I was just worried that she might not be there of her own volition, she seems alright though.”</p><p>  “That was my take on the situation.”</p><p>  “I guess they’re married.” Cassandra said trying to shrug it off.</p><p> </p><p>  “Oh I’m sure they are. I mean… not to each other but…”</p><p>  Cassandra tried not to smile at the man’s teasing tone.<br/>
 </p><p>  “You’re evil.”  She said watching the man kneeling again.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes.”  He said simply. He was holding something up to her again. “Here, smell this.”</p><p> </p><p>  Cassandra put the proffered flower to her nose.</p><p> </p><p>  “Lavender.” She said with a smile at the familiar smell.</p><p> </p><p>  “More useful than a rose, it certainly has relaxing properties. And here.” He stood up, standing close to her. “Taste this.”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “What…” Cassandra backed away as the man’s hand came close to her lips, she took in the small leaf that he was holding up to her.</p><p> </p><p>  “Are you trying to poison me?”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “What, no…” He said with a laugh. “If I wanted to poison you I would have had plenty of chance so far. Just trust me okay?”</p><p> </p><p>  She pursed her lips for a moment before opening her mouth and feeling the tickle of the leaf against her lips.</p><p> </p><p>  “Hmm.. Sage?”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “Yes, one of my favourites.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Mine too.” Cassandra said. The man smiled at her as he chewed on his own leaf.</p><p> </p><p>  “In butter, poured over roast chicken.”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “You’ll make me hungry.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Question two then, if you could have dinner with anybody, living or dead who would it be?”</p><p><br/>
  “I thought you wanted to know about my travelling.”</p><p>  “I guess I just want to know you.”</p><p>  There was an angry shout behind them, and as Cassandra turned startled she dropped the rose and lavender she had been holding in her hand, unthinking she reached out to catch it, and felt a sudden sharp pain in her fingers as the thorn of the rose cut through the thin gloves and the skin beneath. She let out a gasp.</p><p>  The leaf masked man had rushed to action at the shout, he had taken a few steps forwards, and was now stood tensed his back to her, and for the first time Cassandra took note of the shape of the man, broad shoulders and thin waist under the thin black clothing.</p><p>  “What do you think you’re playing at!” Cassandra heard angry shouting and was relieved that they were hidden on this side of the wall.</p><p>  “Who is that? Is that George, MY BROTHER!”</p><p>  “The husband I would guess. Perhaps best to let the guards deal with it.” Her companion suggested returning to her. “Let’s head this way.”</p><p>  “Yeah, I don’t want any kind of trouble tonight.”</p><p>  “I will try my best.” The man said. “But I get the feeling that things are going to get a little out of hand.” Cassandra followed him through the kitchen gardens and out the other side.</p><p>  “Why would she be stupid enough to go with another man if her husband was close by?”</p><p> </p><p>  “The anonymity of masks, when people feel unseen they always act differently, with less reserve. It’s as if they think if nobody can tell who they are they won’t end up paying for their actions. These people, in this city, they think themselves so good, the whole place sometimes reeks with their own self-satisfaction, but I’ve seen a darker side to them all. They shun anybody they see as the slightest bit different. They lie and cheat to keep up their facades of perfection.”</p><p> “I can’t see much of you behind that mask but you seem too young to be so world weary.”</p><p> </p><p>  “ Not world weary, just aware of the fact that people wear masks every day.”</p><p> </p><p>  “And what’s behind the mask you wear every day?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Oh, I don’t wear one. That’s why I don’t fit in at all.” He said with a deep chuckle.  “Everything shows on my face, when something is wrong I say it’s wrong, when something seems ridiculous I say it’s ridiculous. “</p><p>  “Well, to get away with that you’re either quite powerful, or you’re a hermit who lives in a cave.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Who says I’m not both.” He said leaning slightly towards her, his eyes glinting with mirth.</p><p>  She found herself smiling.</p><p><br/>
  “A powerful hermit?”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “Well, it depends on what you see as power, if a man can take charge of his own life and live it in his own way isn’t that power?”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “I don’t know. “Cassandra said honestly. “I guess it’s different for women, there are certain pathways laid out for us, and if we choose not to take them, I don’t know, it’s just more difficult I guess. Besides, at times I’ve tried to live my life as I see fit and yet still ended up completely powerless. None of us are ever fully in control of our own lives are we? I mean, nature brings disasters and illnesses.”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “You haven’t been ill have you?”  </p><p>  There was a tone of worry in his voice, something all too familiar. She stopped and turned to face him. Looking at the sharp and chiselled angles of his face under the mask and the pale blue eyes, she suddenly remembered who he reminded her of. She looked up to the hair that was sleeked back behind the mask. She looked carefully, sure that there should be some trace of a lighter section, the greyish blue, but there was nothing there. Her inkling had been wrong, she knew Varian still had the distinctive stripe in his hair from Rapunzel’s sketches of him.</p><p>  “Cassandra?”</p><p>  “No. I haven’t been ill, well, not seriously anyway.” She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear.</p><p>  The young man hissed.</p><p>  “Your hand is bleeding.”</p><p>  Cassandra looked at the growing patch of blood on her white glove, where the thorn had scratched her.</p><p>  “Just a scratch.”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “Here, let me?”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  He reached for her hand, but she snatched it away.</p><p>  “No! It’s fine.” She pulled her hand in close to her chest, guarding it, she never let anybody touch the darkened skin, even with Kenjaro she’d never removed her gloves, knowing that there was a hole in it made her feel strangely vulnerable. She could tell the man was staring at her, probably alarmed by her over reaction.</p><p>  “Like I said just a scratch.” She said trying to sound nonchalant.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  The man reached into a pocket of his silk jacket and offered her a white linen handkerchief.</p><p>  “Wrap it to stop the bleeding.”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “Thank you.” She took the handkerchief and wrapped it around her finger.</p><p>  “You know you should probably take your glove off.”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “No, it’s fine.” She needed to distract him take his focus from her hand. “So uh.. what was the question?”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “Question?”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>  “Seven questions, I think you were on number three.”</p><p>  “Number two, and it was if you could have dinner with anybody, living or dead who would it be?”</p><p>“Okay, if you must know, then probably my mother.” Cassandra answered quickly, it wasn’t a conversation route she wanted to take, but it was better than having to explain her cursed hand to a stranger.</p><p>  “Your mother?”  The man seemed generally shocked at her answer.</p><p>  “She wasn’t around for me when I was a kid, and I want to know why. But it’s a stupid question to begin with because you can’t have a conversation with the dead.”</p><p><br/>
  “I would pick my mother too.” He said softly. “I was quite young when she passed. I’ve forgotten so much, her voice, her laugh, I just think that if I got one more day with her then I would know to store all that information away, to hold onto it tight, and not take a single moment for granted.”</p><p>  “I’m sorry.”  Cassandra said, and she meant it. “I have no memories of my mother, and I think in some ways that’s better, because I don’t miss her, I just miss the idea of having a mother. It must be harder to have an actual one to lose.”</p><p>  She didn’t know why she did it, but she found herself reaching for his hand with her uninjured one. Maybe she just wanted to feel connected to somebody tonight. The man glanced down at where her hand joined his and gave it a gentle squeeze before looking back up at her.</p><p>“Tonight is a night for the living.” He said distractedly. “A night to live. Come with me. I want to show you something.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Talked All Night Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Special thanks to Cassie who helped me a lot with the chapter. Still not sure it feel quite right, but I don’t think I have the skill right now to make it what it should be.</p><p> </p><p>The song is Greensleeves, original lyrics I think. It’s by…well, not really known but presumed to be King Henry the Eighth.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>  Cassandra stared at the row of hedges in front of her, no, not a row, because even in the darkness she could see that there was another row behind that, and it stretched off into the distance, a small field of hedge walls perhaps.</p><p> </p><p>  “What is this? This wasn’t here before.”</p><p> </p><p>  “A present for Rap…I mean the Princess Rapunzel, from the crowned Prince. It’s a hedge maze.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “A maze?”<br/><br/></p><p>   “Do you want to give it a go?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “A maze at night?”</p><p> </p><p>    The man smirked and pulled one of the hanging lanterns from its hook by the pathway.</p><p> </p><p>  “Well, if you’re too scared…”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I’m not scared. “Cassandra scoffed. “I just don’t think it’s the best idea to get lost in the middle of the night.”</p><p> </p><p>   He turned to her, his face half in shadows.</p><p> </p><p>  “Get lost with me.”</p><p> </p><p>  “What?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Forget everything, everyone, get lost with me.” He held his hand out for her.</p><p> </p><p>  She hesitated for a moment looking behind her towards the party where her friends were, they were probably wondering where she had got to. She owed it to them to know where she was, she didn’t want them to worry about her. But there was something so alluring about the man, about the maze. That little tingle of excitement in her stomach, the slight breathless feeling knowing that she didn’t actually know where the night was going to take her. It was a familiar tug between the feelings of duty and obligation, and those of freedom adventure, desire.</p><p> </p><p>  She took his hand, noticing how warm he was though the thin silk of her gloves, how long and fine the fingers were, how calloused the skin was, and finally she knew something about this man. He wasn’t a courtier or a scholar, he was somebody who worked with his hands.</p><p> </p><p>  Then she was following him into the maze.</p><p> </p><p>  The hedges blocked out the last of the sound of the party, and the last of the light from the castle. It was as if they were passing into another world, the close lines of hedges forcing them close together so that the fabric of their clothes kept brushing against each other with a soft rustle.</p><p> </p><p>  Could he hear how hard her heart was suddenly beating? She felt it was so loud he must do. He led her deeper into the maze, the openings in the hedges appearing seemingly out of nowhere, everything pitch black outside the tiny circle of light their lamp was creating. It was as if nothing else existed outside that glowing circle, as if for that moment it really was just him and her in the entire world, as if they were lost together.</p><p> </p><p>  “Question three?” He said quietly, breaking the stillness of the night. For a moment she had forgotten their other game.</p><p> </p><p>  “Go on?”</p><p> </p><p>  “What would be a perfect day for you?”</p><p>  In that moment, she was so caught up in the stillness of the night that she could have said ‘exploring a maze at midnight’, but she’d been thinking a lot about having a ‘perfect day’ as she had travelled back to Corona. She knew exactly what she wanted it to look like.</p><p>  “A sunny day, with no obligations. Where I wake up in a comfy bed and I know that I don’t have to rush to do anything. Then when I finally do get up all my friends are there, and we go and take a picnic down by a lake, and we eat, and chat, and when it gets too hot we swim in the water, and everything feels carefree and relaxed, and I wouldn’t think about duty, or problems, or the past. I’d be able to exist just in that moment.”</p><p>  He was smiling gently at her, and she felt as if he were concentrating on her every word, as if these simple little things that most people would take for granted were the most interesting things in the world to him.</p><p>  “It’s just been a while since I’ve been with friends.” She said suddenly feeling shy under his gaze.</p><p>  “I spend a lot of time travelling, or working alone, and my friends have a lot of obligations as well, but sometimes those days come where we all take a break and we spend time together, and it feels easy and free. They’re the best days.”</p><p>  “They are. I’ve been away for years, and I’m only just starting to realise how much I’ve missed the ease of knowing the people around me well.”</p><p>  “Well, you’re here with friends now. Let’s fill your days with easy happiness.”</p><p>  She noticed that he’d included himself in that statement, as if he meant to be there with her, in that happy condition. Rapunzel and Eugene had known him, perhaps he would be around, perhaps this wasn’t just a one off walk in a garden. For some reason, she liked that idea, and then she reminded herself that she shouldn’t, because it wasn’t going to be easy, there were other people around who would break it, she was far from popular here. She didn’t belong anymore, and she’d come here for another reason hadn’t she? She’d almost forgot walking around with this strange man with his beautiful eyes and penetrating questions, but she had come back to see Varian, to see what kind of a man he had grown into. She shouldn’t be here, feeling this comfortable with this practical stranger when she was supposed to be seeing Varian the next day.</p><p>  “Hey.” The voice was soft, the finger stroking along her jawline even softer, barely a touch, barely a whisper, but there and real in this dreamlike night.</p><p>  “You seem lost in thought, or are you tired? You’ve been travelling, it would be selfish of me to keep you out longer. I can take you back if you’d like?”</p><p>  She shook her head, because something in his touch, so gentle and intimate, brought her out of her thoughts, out of her problems and obligations, back into the moment with him. She wanted to get lost, she wanted to let it all go. She felt herself in that moment surrender to whatever the night might bring.</p><p>  “Ask me another question.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Are you sure?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yes.”</p><p>  “Is there something you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? But never done.”</p><p><br/>  “I always wanted to be a knight, I guess in many ways I am, but… It’s not what I imagined. I imagined it being in Corona, instead, I have skills, but... I mainly I just gather information.”</p><p>  “Information?”</p><p>  Cassandra silent cursed herself, first rule of being a spy, don’t tell anybody that you’re a spy. Even if you’re not currently on a job, and especially if it’s a charming stranger in a mask. She’d somehow got too relaxed with him, forgotten to keep her barriers up, in another time and place that would have got her killed. She needed to cover her tracks.</p><p>  “I draw maps, cartography you know. That kind of information, it’s very useful for defending armies to properly understand their territories.”</p><p>  “A very useful skill, but not what you were intending.”</p><p>  “No, not what I was intending.” Being a spy hadn’t been wat she was intending either when she had started her training in Japan.</p><p> “So why aren’t you a knight?”</p><p>  The image of gleaming black rocks flashed into her mind, the memory of power, buzzing through her like lightning, the earth beneath her moving with the beat of her heat, a little girl whispering words she couldn’t seem to ignore.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Well… I guess I got in with the wrong type of people.” She muttered awkwardly.</p><p>“And you? Is there something you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time?” She asked trying to avoid going into too much detail, surely he knew some of what had happened if he had lived in Corona his whole life. This was not the direction she wanted the night to go, she was trying to escape all those memories that being back here was bringing up.</p><p>  “I’m doing it right now.” He said.</p><p>  For a moment, in her discomfort, she didn’t quite understand what he was referring to. Then she laughed. <br/><br/></p><p>  “Smooth…”</p><p>  “Are you going to keep calling me out on my dreadful flirting techniques?” He asked laughing with her. <br/><br/></p><p>  “Yep.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Isn’t it at least a little endearing?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Nope.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Ouch.”</p><p>  Their laughter was interrupted by another sound, a gasping cry, the end of which sounded stifled.</p><p>  Cassandra was immediately on guard again, her hand once again pointlessly reaching for the dagger that was not there. She took in the territory. With the hedges so close there was no room for a proper fight, they wouldn’t even have the advantage if they ran away either because the other people might know this maze better. They weren’t exactly trapped, but this was not a good place to be caught unawares.</p><p>  “Stay here.” The man whispered. He put the lantern down on the floor and walked a couple of steps forwards, Cassandra couldn’t tell that there was a gap in the hedges until he leaned slightly into it. He stopped for a long moment, and Cassandra could feel her heart beating hard in her chest for an entirely different reason. This anxiety, this feeling that made her limbs feel like they were starting to freeze up, it was all too familiar. It had never taken her like this when she was a spy, working in the house of a known sadistic murderer, no, she’d barely felt anything in those days, she’d had a job to do and she’d done it. She had been in so much danger, but she’d barely felt a thing. It was when the danger was over and her life wasn’t at risk that she had felt everything come crashing in around her.</p><p>  “It’s alright.” The man said coming back over to her. “I think it’s just Eugene and Rapunzel.”</p><p>  “What are they doing out here at this time of night?”</p><p>“I think they might be making Princess number five.”</p><p>  “Seriously? Out here? Where anybody could walk in on them?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I guess they thought that nobody would dare to come in here in the middle of the night and risk getting lost.”<br/><br/></p><p>  There was another loud moan, this time coming from a male voice, and Cassandra knew exactly what was going on. She shifted uncomfortably, letting go of some of her anxiety. It wasn’t that she had any problem with sex. True, she had been a late bloomer, but that was more to do with the scandal that followed women who were comfortable having sex without being married. No, she was more uncomfortable because for three years of her life keeping the Princess safe was her job, and by safe… that had also meant a virgin. Which it had turned out hadn’t been as hard as she had originally thought because who would have guessed it, but the dashing threesome loving thief had turned out to have saintly levels of patience when it came to the Princess.</p><p>  The man in the mask held his finger to his lips, his hand wrapped around hers, and they moved quietly away from the sounds of gasping breathes.</p><p>  “Guess you were right about the mask thing…” Cassandra muttered as they walked through the maze.</p><p>“Hmm.” He said distractedly. “Those two are awful sometimes.”</p><p>  He pulled up to a stop, they had reached a small clearing in the maze which had a stone bench to sit on. Cassandra knew it wasn’t the middle though, she suspected that she wouldn’t get to find out what was in the middle of the maze tonight, because tonight, her best friend was making love there. It didn’t matter, that wasn’t why she was here anyways, it had nothing to do with the maze and everything to do with get lost with the man in front of her. The man who was now staring at her intently, the man who had somehow moved so close to her that they were millimetres away from touching. She had to look up to make out his blue eyes in the golden glow. His hand came to rest against her cheek, his head tilting towards her. She felt her eyes flutter closed, waiting for his lips. Was this what she wanted? She thought so, or rather, it was the part of her that shunned thought that wanted this. Except the lips never came, she felt the coolness of his cheek against hers as a voice whispered breathlessly into her ear.</p><p>"What do you desire?"</p><p>  The tone of his voice, what they had just walked in on, the night, the intensity of the eyes under the masks, the anonymity of it all, there was no mistaking the type of desires he was talking about. He would know she understood as well, she hadn’t been acting shy tonight, she’d come with him into this maze, she’d not blushed at the sights and sound of not one, but two amorous couples. Her actions must have spelt out to him that she was no blushing maiden. She shouldn’t answer. It would be a step too far. She shouldn’t, and yet something was compelling her to think about the question, to find the answer to it.</p><p><br/>  She'd had a lover, hadn't she? When she'd creep out of the warlord’s house and into the woods to pass on information, such a good little spy, dedicated to the cause. Dedicated to her handler, Kenjaro. A life lived in lies, except those stolen moments with each other. When they’d find each other, and fall on each other wantonly. It had only been a handful of times. There was excitement in it. If they'd been caught and found out then her cover would have been blown, they'd both be put to death. And when the mission was over, when they were able to be together, when that danger was gone, something just hadn't worked. They’d both known it, whatever it was they’d had, it hadn’t held enough substance to make it work in the real world.</p><p>  "Something more than snatched moments, something solid."</p><p>  She hadn't realized what she'd been saying, she hadn’t meant to say it out loud.</p><p>  "Forget it I..." She said as she looked up at those eyes staring so intensely down at her. Soft and understanding when she’d expected shock, or vague dismissal.</p><p>  "Want love?" He said bluntly.</p><p> She sighed and looked away; she couldn’t admit it. Love, it was so settled, so prosaic, hadn’t she spent her whole life wanting adventure? She took a step back from him and wrapped her arms around her chest.</p><p>  "Why am I having these conversations with somebody whose face I've never even seen?"  The question was more to herself than to him, but he answered it anyways.</p><p>  "Because it's easier to say what's in your heart to a person you don't know, than to a person you do. There's no shame in wanting to be loved Cassandra, we all want to be loved."</p><p>  A silence settled between them and it was not a comfortable one. She sat down on the cool stone bench.</p><p>  "Well, I always know how to end a conversation." Cassandra said after what felt like a few minutes.</p><p>  He laughed.</p><p>  "Just by walking into a room?”</p><p>  "Sometimes."<br/><br/></p><p>  "Been there, but no. I was just thinking of an old Corona legend, if you kiss somebody on your first day of hearts dance, and again at your eighteenth birthday in the great hall, then you are destined to marry them."<br/><br/></p><p>  "I’ve never done either."</p><p><br/>  "Never?”  He asked hesitantly.</p><p><br/>  "Well, not the dance, but the kisses I did once now that I think about it. He was just a friend though."<br/><br/></p><p>  "Just a friend?"<br/><br/></p><p>  "Back then."<br/><br/></p><p>  "And now? Could he ever be more than that to you?"<br/><br/></p><p>  "I don't know." Cassandra said honestly. <br/><br/></p><p>  "Maybe if you saw something different in him, a side to him you hadn’t seen before?”<br/><br/></p><p>  "Do people have other sides?"<br/><br/></p><p>  "Underneath the masks they do."</p><p>  “Maybe… I uh…” She shook her head, she didn’t want to think about Varian at that moment, because the thought of him made her feel guilty for some reason. She didn’t have to feel guilty she told herself, they’d never promised each other anything, hadn’t even seen each other in seven years. She didn’t want to think about anybody, she had this night for the first time in ages managed to feel lost in the moment, and it was annoying that things kept happening to bring her back into herself. She didn’t want to be herself tonight, she wanted to be the woman that this man was seeing, the woman he had sought out to spend time with, the woman who he was interested in.</p><p>“Ask me another question.” She said.</p><p>There was a sound from in the maze, He made a grab for her again.</p><p>  They both heard the footsteps coming later than they ought to have, both caught up in their conversation. She stood up as he stepped in front of her, her hand resting on his shoulder as he guarded her with his body. They needed to be still, the maze had so many twists and turns it was difficult to know where the footsteps were coming from and if they were still and quiet they might be passed by.</p><p>  “We should get out of here.” Cassandra whispered to him.</p><p>  Something was wrong, her heartbeat was too fast, her breath caught in her throat, tension filled her like a cold water running through her veins. There were enemies here, there were enemies in the night, she knew that. They had beaks, and feathers, and snouts. They tripped her, stamped on her, crowded around her. The bushes seemed to move inwards in the pale light. This was the wrong place to be in the middle of the night, she’d wanted to get lost in a moment, but she was actually lost instead.</p><p> "I do know the way out, but that kinda spoils the fun doesn’t it?"</p><p> </p><p>  She stared at the man, stepping away from him now as he turned to her. He was a stranger, however much he felt familiar to her, he wasn’t. She didn’t actually know anything about him, what little she did could be lies.  She looked around, he had her backed into a corner, and she couldn’t see the nearest way out. She’d let herself do this, get lost with a strange man in a town full of people who hated her, here, now, he could do anything to her. Those footsteps could easily be his back up. Those people in the masks, who’d backed away from him, they could all be in on it. Looking at him, the branches coming out of the top of his mask seemed more like horns than before, a wood demon, here in his element surrounded by plants.</p><p>  "Why did you bring me here? What do you want from me?"</p><p> </p><p>  “I thought you'd like it."</p><p> </p><p>  She thought he sounded puzzled, but she wasn’t sure, she wasn’t sure about anything anymore.</p><p> </p><p>  "Cassie." A hand was reaching out to her. "What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”</p><p> </p><p>  His voice so kind, his expression so open. She wanted to lean into him, to run away from him, she didn’t know anymore. Her mind didn’t seem right tonight, the fear that had plagued her recently seemed to be taking more of a hold than usual. She was so used to danger, maybe she was too used to it, seeing it where it didn’t exist. But those people at the ball, they weren't exactly planning on baking her a cake. Then something else struck her.</p><p> </p><p>  "What did you just call me?"</p><p> </p><p>  "Don't people call you that?"</p><p> </p><p>  "Just the one."</p><p> </p><p>  She looked to his hairline again, again, there was no streak, but she could swear there was something familiar in the way he had said her name. She shook her head; her mind was doing strange things to her tonight.</p><p> </p><p>  "I'm sorry." The man said still sounding confused.</p><p> </p><p>  She waved him off. </p><p> </p><p>  He held his hand out for her.</p><p> </p><p>"Here, I'll get you out of here. This was a bad idea."</p><p> </p><p>  She looked at his hand hesitating when those footsteps they’d heard came a lot closer, probably drawn in by the noise. She looked over the man’s shoulder as she saw two figures appear through the bushes behind him. For a moment she felt the icy fear again, but then she was relieved, she knew these costumes. A King and Queen of hearts, Rapunzel and Eugene.</p><p> </p><p>  “There she is! I told you she would be fine.” Eugene said gesturing at Cassandra.</p><p>  Rapunzel ran towards her, ignoring the man who stepped out of her way as she did so.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Are you Cass?” She asked. “You just disappeared.”</p><p>  Cassandra didn’t need to fake a smile, she felt instantly relieved at the sight of her friends.</p><p>  “Yeah, I’m sorry. I just went out for some fresh air, was gone longer than I intended.”  Could they hear the tremble in her voice?</p><p><br/>  “We got talking.” Her companion said.<br/><br/></p><p>   Cassandra caught Eugene’s knowing smirk, and any good feelings she’d been feeling towards him that night dissipated into annoyance.</p><p>“Well there you go sunshine, she’s in as safe a pair of hands as she could be, and you said you were hoping that these two would spend some time together.”</p><p>  “Eugene!” Rapunzel turned to glare at him.</p><p>  “What you did?”</p><p>  Safe hands, she’d felt that herself hadn’t she, Cassandra thought to herself. That’s what her instincts had been telling her, yet she’d got so scared. What was wrong with her? Why didn’t she trust her own feelings anymore? She looked over at the man who was watching her so carefully. Rapunzel and Eugene obviously knew who her companion was and trusted him. There was something more than that going on though, It would be something to ask about in the morning, the way Rapunzel had pointed him out to Cass, their familiarity with the man, she’d wanted Cass to get to know him. There must be a reason for it.</p><p>  Rapunzel turned back to Cass, she leaned in close to her, her voice a whisper.</p><p>  “Do you want to come with us back to the party? Or are you okay out here?”</p><p>  Another question, another moment where she could turn back, a few minutes ago her rush of fear had made her want to run away from the leaf masked man, now she wanted nothing more than for his soft voice to comfort her.</p><p>  “I’m fine.” She said aloud. “We’re slowly heading back to the castle anyways, but I think um…” She didn’t know the man’s names so wasn’t sure how to refer to him. “You had more questions about my travels?”</p><p>  “Yes, just a few. It won’t take me long if you’ll humour me.”</p><p>  “See Sunshine.” Eugene said putting his hand on Rapunzel’s shoulder. “They want to be alone.”</p><p>  Rapunzel went to hug her.</p><p>  “Okay, I’ll leave you guys to talk, but you will be up to see the girls in the morning right?”</p><p>  “Of course I will.” Cassandra said, she he’d her friend tight for a moment, stealing a little courage from the hug, grounding herself.  </p><p>  “He’s a good man.” Rapunzel whispered into her ear.</p><p>  “I’m trying to convince myself of that.” Cassandra whispered back.</p><p>  Rapunzel gave her a puzzled look as she pulled away. Eugene was holding his hand out to her though ready to lead her back to the party. She looked over her shoulder at Cassandra as she walked away, a slightly perplexed expression on her face.</p><p>  They were alone again.</p><p>  The man reached his hand out to her.</p><p>  “Let’s get you out of here.” He said gently.</p><p>  Cassandra stepped forwards and took his hand. He led her through the rows of hedges, and within a few minutes she was stepping back out into the gardens, the music and noise from the party becoming clear again.</p><p>  “Here.” The man was leading her over to another bench near the entrance of the maze. He sat down next to her and reached into the pocket of his silken suit. He passed her a small silver flask.</p><p>  “Water might be a better idea, but this is all I have.”</p><p>  </p><p>  She pulled out the stopper and sniffed at it before putting it to her lips and drinking the sharp burning liquid. It instantly warmed her, she was starting to calm back down, and starting to feel ridiculous for her reaction in the maze. She gave a frustrated sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair. Why was it so hard to forget herself? Or even just be herself? This nervousness, this jumpiness, it wasn’t her.</p><p> </p><p>  "I'm sorry.” She sighed.  “I'm not being the best date."</p><p> </p><p>  "Date?"</p><p> </p><p>  She felt her cheeks grow hot again, she turned to him and saw how close he was to her, how his head was tilted towards her, the smile on his lips. Was that the slightest touch of freckles over the ridge of his nose? Some poking out beneath the golden line of his mask? It was hard to tell in the dim light.</p><p> </p><p>  “Well...if you'd talked to me like you did before without it being a date I'd have to kill you.” Cassandra tried to joke.</p><p> </p><p>  “To be fair, I was surprised you didn't.” He said.  “What happened in there Cassandra? Why were you so scared? Did I do something wrong?”</p><p><br/>  “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just can’t trust my own instincts anymore.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “What do you mean?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I don’t know. There was a year, last year to be precise, when I was in constant danger. I was keeping a lot of secrets, and if I’d made the wrong step, just one mistake, then I’d be dead.”</p><p> </p><p>  He was watching her silently, his jaw set into a tight frown.</p><p> </p><p>  “I think it’s taking my mind a long time to realize that it dousn’t have to be so alert anymore, that there’s not constant danger all the time anymore. It’s like I can’t quite escape that world. Though, I guess there is some danger here.”</p><p><br/>  “Danger?” He said sounding alarmed as he turned grabbing at her hand, the movement making his knees come to rest against hers.  “Are you in danger Cass?”</p><p><br/>  “No, not really. Forget I said anything.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Tell me the truth.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra took a deep breath, she looked away from the piercing blue eyes, she was being silly, making a mountain out of a mole hill, but now she’d said something she couldn’t go backwards.</p><p> </p><p>  “When I fell on the dance floor, the people they were saying things to me. The way they were surrounding me… I just felt threatened.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Idiots.” The man said with an annoyed huff.  “I’m sorry Cass, I’m sorry that people acted that way to you. I don’t think they would have dared to do anything more than harsh words, not when you are a guest of the royal family. “</p><p> </p><p>  “Like I said, it probably wasn’t anything. I’m just not right at the moment. I’m over alert all the time.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I don’t like thinking of you being in constant danger. You should have been more honest with your friends about what you were doing. I feel that if you had friend who had known what you were going through they could have helped protect you.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>  “But it was my choice, and I had friends. I worked with them, he… they got me into the job I was in.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “A boyfriend?”  He asked noticing her slip.</p><p> </p><p>  She didn’t deny it.</p><p>  "Then he was an idiot, if you were mine then I would protect you, I have the power to do that. I wouldn’t have put you into deliberate danger, no matter what was at stake.”</p><p> </p><p>“What’s life without adventure?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Can’t you have adventure without danger? If you were mine, I'd travel the world with you, but we'd always come home to a safe house. A warm and comfortable house, it would be decorated how you wanted it, and filled with all the things you love. I would cook for you, intimate candle lit meals made with herbs from the walled garden. We'd ride out, and swim in lakes with our friends."</p><p> </p><p>  "I'm made for a life of duty, not of pleasure."</p><p> </p><p>  "You can have both. I would support you in whatever job you chose... But it would break my heart to know you were in constant danger. It might have been your choice, but there were other people there who could have helped you and didn’t. Its left scars hasn't it? Isn't it time to do something that takes less off a toll on your mind?"</p><p> </p><p>  "Maybe. There’s no point in this silly talk though. “Cassandra said dismissively. “No point in including me in your fantasy of how you would treat a woman, because you don't know me."</p><p> </p><p>  "I desire you.” He said fiercely.</p><p> </p><p>  "You can desire somebody without knowing them, but once the moment is over, you'd find there's nothing substantial there. It's like when you see a delicious looking cake, and you think about eating it, so you miss your lunch to eat the cake, only to be hungry a few hours later, because it didn't have enough substance to keep you full. It was nice at the time but…" Cassandra shrugged.</p><p> </p><p>  "Maybe you’re not the cake, maybe you’re the roast chicken with sage butter."</p><p> </p><p> "You really aren’t good at this flirting thing are you? Usually you're not meant to compare a woman to poultry."</p><p> </p><p>  "I'll be blunt then. If you were mine I would be jealous of every man who laid eyes on you, and every woman who you whispered your secrets too. If you were mine I would spread you out naked before me, binding your feet to each off the bottom bedposts as with your hands to the top, and I would take my pleasure just staring at you. “</p><p> </p><p>  “Well that escalated quickly.”</p><p>  “You're like a rare gem.” He said his warm hand cupping her cheek, his thumb resting on her lips. “Beautiful and unbreakable, but that does not mean that you should ever be taken for granted. “</p><p> </p><p>  “I don't want to be a gem, just looked at. I want to be useful.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Ah, but gems are useful for far more than decoration, diamonds cut glass after all.”</p><p> </p><p>  "So I'm sharp now?"</p><p> </p><p>  "Only your tongue."</p><p> </p><p>  "You know me so well."</p><p> </p><p>  "Who treated you badly to make you so defensive?"</p><p> </p><p>  “Everybody.”</p><p> </p><p>   His hand reached and brushed her hair out of her face, she leaned back as he did. Was he going to kiss her? She’d wanted it before, now everything seemed too intense.</p><p> </p><p>  " I’d never hurt you or treat you badly. I think you were born to be loved. I think you have an amazing natural capacity for it. I just don’t know how to show you that.</p><p> </p><p>  “I should go to bed.” She stood up, made to walk away but her caught her sleeve, standing up and walking around her so that he was in front of her again.</p><p>  “Wait… just… What do you want? All you have to do is ask? You want to be loved, to be treasured? Well here I am. What do I say to you to convince you? What do I promise you? How do I show you what's in my heart? Everything I could give you?”</p><p> </p><p>  “I don’t know.” Cassandra found herself shouting, some of the reserve she’d been holding slipping. “I don’t know what I want anymore! I don’t even know who I am anymore! Everything I ever thought I wanted, everything I ever thought I was, it’s not.. it’s not stable anymore. I don’t trust any of it anymore. How could you want me when I don’t even know who I am?”</p><p>  “I can still see you. I can still see who you are.”</p><p>  “Who are you?”</p><p>  The question hung in the air between them. The man opened his mouth a few times as if he were going to answer, his fist clenched at his side, he wouldn’t look her in the eyes. He eventually gave a long sigh.</p><p>“I love this song.” He muttered eventually.</p><p>  Cassandra paid attention the music that had been playing in the background. A steady and fast string quartet. <br/><br/></p><p>  “I don’t know it.”</p><p>  “Dance with me.” He said quietly, seriously.</p><p>  “When people who hate me are being drunken idiots? No.”</p><p> </p><p>  “They won’t touch you when I’m around.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Why? If you’re a good man like Rapunzel says why would people be scared of you?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Probably the same reason they’re scared of you, they’re idiots. Besides, some of its fear, some of its respect, it’s hard to tell which though at times.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Well, if they respect you then you won’t be doing yourself any favours being seen with me.”</p><p> </p><p>  “I don’t care what others think.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Everybody cares what other people think.”</p><p> </p><p>  He looked at her and just shrugged.</p><p> </p><p>  “Maybe you’re only saying this because you’re anonymous.”</p><p> </p><p>  “No, if I felt that I wouldn’t answer for my behaviour I think I would do something a lot worse than dance with you.”</p><p> </p><p>  “What would you do?” She challenged him.</p><p> </p><p>  “Leave marks on your skin.”</p><p> </p><p>  “One moment your saying you’d never hurt me.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Never in the way that counts. I’d never hurt your heart Cassandra, but your skin is so pale it makes me want to see it marked red, the contrasts, the lines of passion. Come, dance with me. Just once. Out here. I will ask no more of you tonight, dance with me once and I will walk you to your room as if I were a gentleman and you were a gentle maiden.”</p><p> </p><p>   He took her hand, his skin touched hers through the hole in the glove. She fought the impulse to pull it away, she was still covered enough that he couldn’t see her ruined hand.</p><p> </p><p>  “Okay.” She relented. “One dance.”</p><p> </p><p>  He gave a smile that looked almost relieved. He turned her hand over in his and raised it to his lips, placing a kiss on her wrist. She could feel it under the fabric, it sent a tingle up her arm and started something in the pits of her stomach. She was still intrigued by the man, nothing he had said had stopped that. In fact, the passion of his words, she’d never admit it, but she liked them. It wasn’t right though, she had thought she’d known the journey she was going on when she had first taken his hand and walked into the maze, now she wasn’t so sure. She thought she was going to get lost in the man for the evening, but she wasn’t willing to think beyond the night.</p><p> </p><p>  He pulled her close to him, and she put her hand on his shoulder, as his came to rest on her waist. They began a slow dance to the barely heard music.</p><p> </p><p>  “Is somebody singing?” She asked.<br/><br/></p><p>  “There are words.”</p><p> </p><p>  He gently leaned his head down close to her ear. Her breath caught in her throat as she heard the words sung softly just to her, his voice deep and warm.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>  “Alas my love you do me wrong<br/>To cast me off discourteously;<br/>And I have loved you oh so long<br/>Delighting in your company.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Greensleeves was all my joy</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Greensleeves was my delight,<br/>Greensleeves my heart of gold<br/>And who but my lady Greensleeves.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>  She could feel herself becoming lost again, the tickle of his breath against his neck, the words, the soft sway of their bodies next to each other as they danced on the spot, paying no attention to style or steps.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>  “If you intend to be this way </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It does the more enrapture me</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And even so I still remain</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A lover in captivity</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Greensleeves was all my joy</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Greensleeves was my delight,<br/>Greensleeves was my heart of gold<br/>And who but my lady Greensleeves.”</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Greensleeves now farewell adieu</em>
</p><p>
  <em>God, I prey will propser thee.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>For I am still thy lover true, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Come once again and love me.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>  His slow movements came to a stop, and Cassandra found herself drifting out of the dream he had managed to cast over her. How was it that he could calm her so quickly? How was it that he could turn her from arguments to softness in mere minutes? She really wasn’t herself anymore, but who did that mean she was turning into?</p><p>  “My lady wears green sleeves tonight. “He breathed into her ear. “Do not cast me off, for I will grant you whatever your heart and body desires.”</p><p> </p><p>  She pulled away.</p><p> </p><p>  “Maybe you move too fast sir.”</p><p> <br/>  “I’d wait for years if I thought there was any hope, but I don’t have years to convince you do I? I don’t have much time to tell you the things in my heart, in my mind. You make me feel desperate, like I’d never be absolutely free unless I had you in my life. I will do anything for you Cassandra, go anywhere, give you anything. What do you long for? Those moments you’re alone? I know you want love, you have mine, I swear. But what else? I could wash you down with the finest oils and spend hours kissing hot trails into your skin. You could punish me however you wished in the heat of passion, bind me, use me, and I would come crawling to your feet for more, would you wish for two lovers, I’d gladly provide if I was getting my fair share. Do not blush, worse passions will be happening tonight, and anything done for love cannot be as wrong as those done out of greedy and loveless lust.”</p><p><br/>  “I’m not blushing and If I were it would be because I haven’t stepped foot in this town for seven years, so how can you talk of loving me?”</p><p><br/>  “Perhaps I am wrong to, but it does not take much to adore you. My heart knew yours right away.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Her heart skipped a beat in her chest, there was something familiar about the way he was talking. Something about the words he used that made her feel as if she’d maybe had this conversation before, and yet she’d only just met him. It wasn’t him, she told herself. Varian would never talk with such a passion. Such a strange passion, and yet alluring, it was the type of things that should never be said aloud. It should have shocked her, but it didn’t, she didn’t know what she felt about it.</p><p>  "You talk of love and sex in one sentence."</p><p> </p><p>  "Isn’t sex a way for people to communicate love?” He asked.</p><p> </p><p>  "I don’t know, never in my experience."</p><p> </p><p>  "Nor mine, but I remain hopeful."</p><p> </p><p>  "There's many ways of communicating love, why are you concentrating on this one?”</p><p> </p><p>  "Because I have a beautiful woman in front of me, and I have one night to convince her to let me I through her defences, and I have no idea how, so I'm just going to do everything I can, try to appeal to every part of you."</p><p> </p><p>  "Promise me the world tonight, and be gone in the morning?"</p><p> </p><p>  "No, never. I will fulfil every promise I ever make." He said earnestly.</p><p> </p><p>  "You'll get me two lovers?" She teased.</p><p> </p><p>  "Well,” He said sheepishly. “I might have to break that one, because now I think it over, I doubt I would want to share you with anybody, even In the most basic of ways.”</p><p> </p><p>   “Everything is just a game played with masks.” Cassandra said. “You won’t feel the same way once the music has stopped, once the pretty dresses and masks have been taken off. You won’t feel the same way when the roses have died, and the food has gone stale.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I will. I promise you I will.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Goodnight Anon.” Cassandra said, putting her hand gently on his shoulder. “What you said was true, it was a night to live, and I did get lost with you. But I can’t stay lost forever.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Then let me find you.”<br/><br/></p><p>  She shook her head.</p><p> </p><p>  “That’s something that only I can do.”<br/><br/></p><p>  His graceful fingers reached for where hers rested on his shoulder and he once again raised her gloved hand to his lips, this time kissing her knuckles. His eyes were squeezed shut as he did so, an almost pained look.</p><p> </p><p>  “Danmit.” He muttered.</p><p> </p><p>  Cassandra was about to detangle herself when his arm whipped around the small of her back pulling her forwards so that she was trapped against him. He opened his eyes and looked down at her, something flashing there that looked so untamed and wild that she felt her stomach drop, her mouth go dry, and not with fear. He wasn’t the well-presented man he had been at the start of the evening anymore, he was something else, something animal. Yet, she wasn’t scared, she was excited, and something deep down inside of her knew that he would not hurt her.</p><p> </p><p>  For a long moment he just stared at her, blue eyes inescapable in the confined edges of the mask. She was mesmerised by them as the leaned closer and closer to her, till she had to close her eyes or be blinded by the glinting of the golden mask. She felt a tickle of warm breath against her lips, they parted without her even thinking about it. Then the gentlest of pressure pressed against them, for a moment, as if unsure. She let out a sigh and her body relaxed into his as whatever timidness there was disappeared, and his lips moved against hers with a forcefulness that she felt might bruises. His fingers wrapped into the back of her hair; his heartbeat heavily next to her own. It was a debilitating kiss, one that took away all her thoughts, all her ability to do anything except submit to the dizzying rush of feelings.</p><p> </p><p>  Breathlessness eventually forced them apart, and they stood leaning against one another, panting heavily, eyes bright as they stared up at each other. His finger traced her lips as he looked at her wide eyed and stunned. She briefly wondered if her own face showed the same shocked and lost look, because that kiss… that kiss had awoken something in her far more powerful than she’d experienced in the midst of love making with Kenjaro. That kiss, it was the kiss that people waited lifetimes for. The type that made you suddenly belief in soul mates, love at first sight, and every fairy tale and mythical creature ever invented.</p><p> </p><p>  His hand dropped from the back of her head, and she missed it instantaneously, because that was where it belonged, wasn’t it?</p><p> </p><p>  “You said you would ask no more of me.”</p><p>  She was daring him, daring him to take it further, daring him to take her back into the maze and let her get lost in him.</p><p>  “I couldn’t help it.” He said running his hand over his head, sounding almost apologetic.</p><p>  She’d said the wrong thing, and she didn’t know how to take it back. She was a brave woman, but never brave enough to ask a man for what she wanted, never brave enough to be brazen, women weren’t meant to be after all. Society had embedded that into her, and it wasn’t letting go anytime soon.</p><p>  She reached for his hand, trying to express something that she couldn’t put into words.</p><p>  He looked down at her hand in his.</p><p>“Meet me tomorrow, down by the south gate, just on the road that leads to the woods. Meet me and I’ll know that what I have said to you tonight has not scared you.” He said to her.</p><p>  “It hasn’t.” She said. Then she swallowed, she knew that things could change in the daylight, that everything that she was feeling now might have an entirely different hue when the sun had risen. Obligations versus desires, she couldn’t fully give into either. She couldn’t make any promises now, knowing that things can change within a day, within an hour, within a minute.</p><p>  “But just because I’m not scared, dousn’t mean that I will give in to you.” She added.</p><p>  “Meet me tomorrow night.” He bent his head down, and she felt a thrill run thorough her body as he kissed the spot where her neck met her shoulder. “And it will be I who gives into you.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Don’t worry, Varian’s in the next chapter…..*Fooling nobody*</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Cold Light of Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>  <em>  You look down at your hands, you have to have clean hands, that was a particularity of his. Your hands are rough from holding onto Fidella’s reigns, but they are clean, the nails spotless. As you look you realize that they are trembling. It’s excitement, that’s what you convince yourself, it’s not fear, you’re ready for this. You open the door and smile at Kenjaro.</em></p><p>
  <em>  “Are you ready?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  “Yes.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  He offers you his arm with a cocky smile, always confident, always slightly flirtatious. You feel the warmth of him as you step close, the slightly spicy smell of his skin.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  “Do I look alright?” You ask.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You’re a foreigner. He’ll notice you.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  You’re in the marketplace now, you can see your target, you know what you must do. The man is huge, though he would stand out even if he wasn’t. It wasn’t his shockingly pale skin or white hair, it was the way that everybody moved away from him, the strange fear in people’s eyes when they glanced in his direction.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  “Go. Now.” Kenjaro says pushing you lightly on the shoulder.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  You grab the small basket at your feet and walk, head down, making it look like you’re in a hurry, like you’re not watching where you’re going, but you know exactly what you’re doing. You keep glancing up and seeing that you are on a direct path to the man in front of you, and as you get closer the pounding in your chest becomes palpable. A bead of sweat trickles down your spine. You realise that you’re holding your breath. Closer, and closer and then right at the moment where he is hovering above you, your fingers loosen, the basket drops to the floor. The pears roll out and one hits his snakeskin boot. Your fingers reach for it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>  “Gomen-Nasai.” You say, making sure that your voice sounds stilted, unsure, as if you didn’t know this language well. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  Then you glance upwards as you sense him bending down, your eyes meet and his widen slightly. You have his attention, the attention of a man you know has killed dozens, that could kill you without much thought. You’ve planned for this, you know what to expect but as you see the colourless eyes boring into you, the slight furrow of the barely seen eyebrows questioning what a foreigner is doing in these rural parts… you feel a shiver of fear.</em>
</p><p>  Casandra woke panting. For a moment she didn’t know where she was, she had been at the market, she had been with Kenjaro, then as she looked around the unfamiliar dark room she started to realize where she was. She could still feel the creep of sweat running down her back. The night was still dark, but there was enough light for her to see, dawn must be close to breaking. She threw the covers back and padded on bare feet to the dark shadow of the dressing table. She dipped her hands in the cool bowl of water that had been set out for her to perform her morning cleanse in. She splashed it onto her face, feeling the sudden shock of it, helping to cool her down, helping to bring her back into the present. She glanced up and met scared eyes in the mirror, a pale face, lips apart, panting, shoulders trembling. She frowned.</p><p> “You did this to yourself; you chose this.”</p><p>***</p><p>    “Shush… She is not awake yet.”<br/> </p><p>   “But I want to see her Mummy!”<br/> </p><p>  “Is she really a warrior? I want to be a warrior!”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Does she like horses?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Shush Hettie. I’m the oldest, I get the first question.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Do not.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Quiet down girls.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra sat up and flinched at the harsh morning sun that glinted through a gap in the curtains. She glanced over at herself in the mirror, she looked pale and tired, but the nightdress she was wearing seemed suitably modest for greeting overly excitable Princess’. She reached over to her nightstand and pulled on her spare pair of gloves, no point in traumatising the little girls she thought to herself.</p><p>  “You can come in on two conditions.” She shouted. “One, that you don’t mind me in my night dress, two that you have coffee.”</p><p>  Rapunzel’s smiling face appeared around the door.</p><p>  “The coffee is on its way.” Her smile faltered slightly when she saw Cassandra. “Are you sure you’re up for meeting the rabble?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I’ve been looking forwards to it.”</p><p>  “Okay, well you have been warned.” Rapunzel said as she opened the door wider. Within seconds three small girls in matching pink nightdresses were bouncing on the end of her bed, and the fourth, was trying to pull herself up, though her fat baby arms couldn’t quite manage. Cassandra looked around for a moment, a little stunned, she could see all the features of her friends, the expressions that they made, but all here in these four tiny individuals.</p><p>  “Do you like horses!” The second smallest one was asking, she had big blue eyes and strawberry blonde curls.</p><p>  “HETTIE!” The tallest of them snapped, her hands on her hips and a distinctive glare on her face that reminded Cassandra of the annoyed look she used to get from Eugene when they both lived in the castle. “I told you! I get to ask the first question.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Ari. Be nice.” Rapunzel said patiently as she walked into the room.</p><p> “I did warn you.” She reminded Cassandra as she sat on the edge of the bed and lifted the chubby toddler onto her lap.</p><p>  “We should introduce ourselves you know, it’s the polite thing to do.” The second tallest was now saying in a quiet voice.</p><p>  “I know who you all are.” Cassandra said with a small laugh at the thought that she hadn’t stored every piece of knowledge she’d ever received about her friend’s children in her mind. “You’re Willow.” She said to the quiet girl who had just spoken. “You’re an artist like your mum and your great auntie. Though where did all that red hair come from?”</p><p>  “Ah, a cousin of mine apparently has red hair.” Rapunzel explained. “Well, the relationship is more complicated than that, but apparently the lighter shades of hair crop up every few generations.”</p><p>  “It’s beautiful.” Cassandra said fondly reaching out to touch the small girls red curls.</p><p>  “Thank you, Auntie Cassandra.” The girl said politely.</p><p>  “She’s our cousin.”  The young Ariana said with a disgruntled huff.<br/><br/></p><p>  “No, she’s our auntie.” Willow answered.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Is she Varian’s wife?” Hettie added, speaking loudly over the stream of babbling that was coming from the youngest child’s mouth, who was excitedly joining in.<br/><br/></p><p>  “No, she’s mummies other mummies other daughter.” Willow confirmed.</p><p>  “You can call me Auntie Cass if you like.” Cassandra said looking shyly at Rapunzel who nodded in agreement.</p><p>  “Are you a warrior?” Arianna asked.</p><p>  “Will you take me riding?” Hettie talked over the top of her.<br/> </p><p>  “Will you teach me archery?” Arianna shouted.<br/> </p><p>  “Girls!” Rapunzel said sternly. “Cassandra will have time to answer all your questions, but right now you need to calm down and give her have a chance to get ready for the day.”</p><p>  “Will you spend the day with us Auntie?” Willow asked.</p><p>  “No Willow. She’s going to see Varian.” Rapunzel answered softly.<br/><br/></p><p>  “He’s my godfather.” Arianna said tilting her chin up proudly.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Well, he’s my uncle.” Hettie snapped back.<br/><br/></p><p>  “No, Hettie, we only call him uncle because he’s Mummy and Daddy’s friend.”</p><p>  “Okay girls, here’s what I’m going to do, if it’s okay with your parents. I am going to go and spend today with Varian because he has been waiting almost as patiently as you have been. Then tomorrow, I will give Arianna a quick archery lesson, Hettie can come and see my horse Fidella, and Willow… you can show me your art and Beatrice…” Cassandra stopped, she really didn’t know what one year olds particularly enjoyed doing.</p><p>  “Baby Bea likes to be read to. “Willow said quietly. “The Adventures of Flynn Rider.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “That sounds like an amazing idea!” Rapunzel said with a wide smile. There was a polite knock on the door and a maid entered with a tea tray, Cassandra could smell the coffee and almost sighed in relief.</p><p>  “Come on girls, out now.” Rapunzel said balancing the toddler on her hip and gesturing at the door. “Give Auntie Cass a chance to have breakfast and get dressed.” As she turned to close the door behind her Rapunzel grinned widely once more, mouthing ‘thank you’.</p><p>***</p><p>  “So…”</p><p>  Cassandra jumped, and spun round.</p><p>  “You seemed to have a good night last night.” Eugene smirked at her from where he leaned in her doorway dressed now in the familiar captain’s uniform.</p><p>  “Don’t you ever wait for an invitation?”</p><p>  “Nah.” He said with a grin. “You know I warned Rapunzel not to disturb you this morning.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “It was fine.”</p><p>  “Evidently. I’m surprised that you were alone.”</p><p>  “Just because you had it in your mind to make another kid last night didn’t mean that I did. I saw what you were doing in the maze.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “We weren’t the only ones who were in that maze looking for a bit of privacy though, were we?”</p><p>  “Did you come here for a reason?”</p><p>  “Nope, no reason. I just wanted to see what you were wearing for your big date with Varian.”</p><p>  “It’s not a date.”</p><p>  “You seem to have put a lot of effort in for what’s not a date.” Eugene said glancing up and down at her with a smug look on his face.</p><p>  “I needed new clothes, that’s all.” Cassandra said looking down, it wasn’t like her outfit was particularly fancy, she’d just gone with plain green blouse and black trousers. True, it was finer than her usual clothes, but she wasn’t fighting or traveling, and she wasn’t anybody’s maid, so it made sense to her to look presentable.</p><p>  Eugene hummed and stretched, he turned to leave but glanced over his shoulder as he did so.</p><p>  “You look good Cass, and green is his favourite colour.”</p><p>***</p><p>  Cassandra kept her hand close to her belt. She had been sure to double check she had her dagger on the way out of her room. As she walked down the streets, she was still aware of people staring at her, she kept her head up, walking with purpose. She had spent three years keeping secrets, she knew how to act. Though inside she was feeling nervous, she was out in the city on her own, surrounded by people she knew were holding grudges against her. She didn’t know who had been at the masquerade the evening before, she didn’t know who had threatened her, called her a witch.  She reached the corner with the small wall fountain that Varian had said he would meet her by and hoped that he wouldn’t be long. A still target was an easy target after all.</p><p>  She leaned against the wall and her eyes flickered about, the street was busy, and she could see people glancing at her and then nervously glancing away. A woman with two small children was hurrying them along, her hand on their backs. An old lady with a basket glanced at her, huffed and kept walking. She watched two teenage boys, as they laughed at something and turned a corner just as a smartly dressed young man appeared smiling at something. She turned to watch and unfamiliar guard ambling towards her, suddenly her eyes flickered back to the young man. She gasped.</p><p>  She’d picked up hints from Rapunzel’s letters, and from the comments that people had been making since she had arrived that Varian had grown into a fine-looking young man. Yet, nothing had prepared her for the man who was walking up to her with a wide smile. She wouldn’t have recognized him if it wasn’t for the light stripe in his hair and those familiar dazzling blue eyes. It was strange, she didn’t know that she had looked into his eyes enough I the past for them to be familiar, but they were. He was broad shouldered but with a slim waist. He was dressed in a blue shirt with black waistcoat which set off hie blue eyes and floppy black hair that he wore slightly too long. Despite the change in his form, he was still Varian, when he smiled his front teeth were still slightly too large, his hair flopped into his eyes, and he carried a general air of enthusiasm around him. Cassandra found herself straightening up and smiling as he got closer.  </p><p>  “Hey.” She said.</p><p>  “Hey.” He said with a smile, as he stepped into her space he reached out and his hands lay flat against the top of her arms, he was a head taller than her now and he bent in. Cassandra panicked for a moment as he leaned in to kiss her, she turned her head slightly just before realizing that he had been aiming for her cheek, now his lips awkwardly caught her on the corner of her mouth. They drew away from each other nervously. His eyes were wide, and he gave a nervous laugh, his hand running through his hair.</p><p>  “It’s uh… it’s good to see you.” Varian said nervously.</p><p>  “You..uh.. you got tall. “Cassandra replied. “It suits you.”</p><p>  “Uh thanks. You’ve not changed much.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “And broad.” Cassandra muttered looking at how the fabric of the waistcoat stretched across his chest when he moved.</p><p>  “Uh, what?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh, I said, I’m glad that I’m now back from abroad. It’s been such a long time.”</p><p><br/>  “Seven years.” Varian answered. “The last time I saw you was a few days after my eighteenth birthday party. “</p><p>“I remember some of that night.” Cassandra said, feeling her face redden as she remembered the misunderstanding that they’d had the morning afterwards.</p><p>  “Yeah, sitting up all night. Telling each other our hopes and dreams.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I don’t remember that bit. I said I have dreams? Urgh! I really was drunk.”</p><p>  “Everything seems different when you’re alone in candlelight, secrets come out.” Varian said with a smirk.</p><p>  “Nonsense comes out.” Cassandra corrected him. “So, uh, shall we go find somewhere to have a drink? Catch up”?”</p><p>  “Oh, I have just the place for lunch, but I uh... was hoping you’d do me a favor first.”</p><p>  “A favor?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I was hoping you’d come see this house I was interested in buying. I could use a second opinion.”</p><p>   Cassandra shrugged.</p><p>  “I don’t mind. Actually, I have a favor to ask of you too.” She reached into her satchel and her fingers closed around the cool stone that was at the bottom. She held it out for Varian to see.</p><p>  “The Cassandrium? You still have it?”</p><p>  “The necklace broke, I still have most of the beads. I probably should have taken it to a jewelers to get fixed years ago, but for some reason it didn’t quite feel right for somebody else to do it. Would you fix it for me?”</p><p>  Varian’s fingers briefly touched hers as he reached for the stone, and Cassandra felt something in her chest flutter. That was why she was here, she reminded herself. To see if the hidden passion in their letters would still be there when they saw each other in person. So far though, she just felt a little awkward.</p><p>  Varian lifted the stone and held it up.</p><p>  “I could get you something much nicer you know.”</p><p>  “If you don’t have the time that’s fine.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “No, I have the time. It’s just not a very glamorous necklace is it?”</p><p>  “I’m not a very glamorous person. Besides, it never mattered to me that it wasn’t glamorous. It was a thoughtful gift from a friend. That’s why I’ve kept it all these years.”</p><p>  Varian’s freckled cheeks grew slightly red as he looked down at the stone in his hand.</p><p>  “It might take a while to fix. I’ll have to order some of the fittings through Xavier. Will you…uh..” He glanced back up at her through thick eyelashes. “Will you be staying around for a while?”</p><p>  “I’ll stay until it’s fixed.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Well, in that case it’s going to take a year.” Varian joked.</p><p>  Cassandra rolled her eyes at him as she reached back into her bag and took out a small leather pouch.</p><p>  “Here’s the beads that I saved. Some went over a cliff during the fight when it got broke, but I hope there’s enough left to do something with.”</p><p>  “I will do my best.” Varian said slipping the beads and the stone into his pocket. “We’re running late, but the house is just down her. I’m meeting with the nephew of Lord Guthrie’s who’s going to show us around the house.” Varian cocked his elbow out for her to take, Cassandra found herself blushing lightly as she took it. She was not really the arm in arm type, but it seemed pointless to argue. She let him lead her down the street, Varian seemed to be completely unaware of the stares that they were receiving, and Cassandra had to wonder if people were seeing one of their own with a dangerous witch, or if they were seeing the two biggest threats Corona had faced walking casually arm in arm down the street.</p><p>  “Samuel!” Varian shouted after they had walked a few minutes. He dropped Cassandra’s arm to clasp the young blonde man’s hand. “I’m sorry we’re a little late.”</p><p>  “It’s no problem, Lord Varian.” The man answered respectfully. He glanced at Cassandra as if noticing her for the first time and his eyes widened slightly.</p><p>  “Oh, this is milady Cassandra.” Varian said. “She’s going to lend me a feminine eye.”</p><p>  Cassandra held back a laugh with a short cough. If Varian was really looking for a feminine eye then he had chosen the wrong person. Rapunzel would have been better, but then of course Rapunzel was busy with running a country and having four kids.</p><p>  “Of course.” Samuel said with a stutter. “Uh, right this way.” He opened the door for them, and they stepped into a dull hallway carpeted in patterned blue and painted in a rusty yellow color.</p><p>  “He let things go a little at the end.” Samuel explained. “So, it might need redecorating, but it been kept clean and I’ve been maintaining it.”</p><p>  “I’m sure it’s fine.” Varian said.</p><p>  “So, there is a basement, it provides lots of storage.””<br/><br/></p><p>  “It’s near the harbor.” Cassandra said, thinking about how she’d seen boxes of damaged goods outside of one of the nearby pubs.</p><p>  “It is.” Samuel confirmed.</p><p>  “Has it ever flooded?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Uh… no. At least, not in my lifetime. There’s um.. a large kitchen and pantry, dining room, morning room, there’s a small study on this floor and a second larger one upstairs. Then for entertaining there is a dining room and a small music hall with sprung floor.”</p><p>  “Small?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Forty to fifty people for an evening soiree, the dining room seats 24 comfortably.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “How many staff did your uncle keep on?” Cassandra asked.</p><p>  “In the end it was only the cook, his manservant and two maids though one lived out. In its glory days, it had a cook with two kitchen maids, the bakery used to lend extra hands for parties. Two manservants, a housekeeper and four maids. You uh..” He glanced nervously between Cassandra and Varian. “He was a bachelor his entire life of course, you might want to consider ladies maids on top of that if you were intending the house to be fully used.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “How many bedrooms?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “A master and five guests, then at the back of the house there’s rooms fitting for a manservant and housekeeper, a few individual rooms in the attic and a female dormitory.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra nodded.</p><p>  “So, um.. do you actually want to move out of the hallway now?” Varian asked her with a smirk.</p><p>   “As the lady understands running a house, perhaps she’d like to see the kitchens?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Lead the way.” Varian said, he gave a sweeping gesture to Cassandra.</p><p>  After they had seen the kitchens, pantries, laundry rooms and study they ended up in the hall. Cassandra’s eyes widened as she looked up at the high ceiling painted with blue sky and fake windows that showed mythological creatures and god’s cavorting above them as if the world of the god’s was right above their heads. The chandeliers glittered below the thin dust blankets that were wrapped around it, and she could easily have set a table for six in the fireplace. There were gilded statues of thinly veiled maidens and loinclothed young men every few meters along the sides of the wall and it reminded Cassandra of the night before, she could see the bright colors of dresses and costumes circling each other in intricate patterns. Cassandra had stayed in places like this, as a sword for hire people had never quite known whether to treat her as visitor or staff, the result was a lot of awkwardness. She knew how to behave in pretty much any situation given her lady in waiting training, but she did always feel a bit more comfortable in guard barracks or the servants quarters than at posh dinners and dances.</p><p>  “What do you think?” Varian asked her.<br/><br/></p><p>  “It’s roomy. Were you going to turn it into your lab?” It was only half a joke, because if she knew Varian then he wouldn’t have thought twice of using the magnificent hall as his lab.<br/> </p><p>  “I don’t carry out experiments within the city limits, I can’t risk fires. I have a barn a few miles down the road, and all of my mechanical work I do within the Demanitus chamber. I have a room in the palace, and of course at my Dad’s but I think it’s time that I made a home for myself.”</p><p>  Cassandra gave a none committed hum. It made sense for a young man to reach a point where he wanted to build his own home, usually that came with getting married though. The picture of the extravagant womanizer that shed got from her friends didn’t sound like somebody ready to settle down.</p><p>  “It's… it’s big Varian, what are you planning on doing with it?” Cassandra said looking around.<br/><br/></p><p>  “Well…” He stopped to think for a moment. “Throw parties?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Do you even like parties? You weren’t at the party last night and that was thrown in your honour.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Oh yeah. I guess.. I like some parties. Like, little ones, just a few people.” Varian ran his hand through his hair nervously again.</p><p> </p><p>  “Varian, I’m just saying a place like this, it’s expensive to maintain. Before you take that expense on you should know if you’re going to get full use out of the place. I mean, you don’t want to end up letting the place go to ground because the upkeep costs become to much.”</p><p> </p><p>  “I see your point but there’s not much risk of that, I have good resources.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Good resources?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Oh, well any patents for invitations I come up with in my duties as the royal engineer belong to Corona, but when king Fedrick sells the technology he gives me a cut. Also, I have a few pet projects outside of my duties and I earn money from them.”</p><p> </p><p>  “So, you’re rich then?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Oh yeah.” He said casually.</p><p> </p><p>  “Right.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Come on milady, let’s get a look at the bedrooms.” He reached for her hand, but she pulled it quickly away, even though she wore gloves it was still instinctive for her. Blue eyes met hers and for a moment her chest felt tight as if she couldn’t breathe. Varian let the moment go without comment, but as he gestured towards the door his expression was closed and serious.</p><p> </p><p>  Samuel led them up the stairs and into the master bedroom. The room was covered in mahogany panelling with light blue curtains and rugs. There was a huge bay window that reminded Cassandra of the one in Rapunzel’s bedroom, the one where they used to sit and talk before bed. For a moment she could see herself sitting there talking to Varian in the warm morning sun, a cup of coffee in her hand, a comfortable nightgown wrapped around her. A moment of pure domestically, that made her feel warm, but she reminded herself, she wasn’t the domestic type. She had unconsciously moved towards the window but now she turned on her heels and instead walked around the mahogany four poster bed with its blue silk curtains, stopping to look at the delicate hand turned twists carved into the wood.</p><p> </p><p>  “Does it come furnished?” Cassandra asked.</p><p> </p><p>  “Yes, there is a few pieces that my family wants to keep, but not a lot of it has sentimental value. We could do an inventory for you.”</p><p>  “I guess I’d eventually replace it with my own things, but it’s nice to not have to rush to furnish it.” Varian said. “Can’t you imagine this whole room done with red silks?”</p><p>  Cassandra paused, looking down at the light layer of dust on the covers of the bed and in her mind, she could see the room at night, flames roaring in the fireplace, the light playing against shining red sheets.</p><p>  “Strong bed posts.” She said distractedly.</p><p>  “Is that important?” Varian asked.</p><p>  “Depends on who you’re planning to tie to them.”<br/> </p><p>  She was snapped out of her thoughts of blue eyes behind a golden mask when she heard Samuel give out a choking cough.</p><p>  There was a laugh in Varian’s eyes when she turned to him, something more confident and knowing than she had seen on his face before.</p><p>  “Always the guard’s daughter, always thinking of what to do if you get an intruder.” Varian said turning to Samuel, offering him an explanation for Cassandra’s strange observation.</p><p>  “The house has strong locks, on all the windows and doors, and there is a trip stair.”</p><p>  “He’s never going to remember that. He’s always been clumsy.”<br/><br/></p><p>   Varian’s eyebrows furrowed, and he leaned back a little surveying her.</p><p>  “Not so clumsy anymore milady.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I guess you have grown out of the lanky baby deer stage.”</p><p>  “Yeah, only five years ago. Samuel, would you mind if we explore a bit on our own?”</p><p>  Samuel’s eyes flickered between them. “Of course, Lord Varian. I’ll wait for you downstairs.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Do you think I intimidated him?” Cassandra asked once he had left.<br/><br/></p><p>  “I think if you work on him for another fifteen minutes, he’s going to knock down the price, and have an aneurism. I just wanted you to see something.” He reached for her hand then paused, and drew away awkwardly. “Sorry. It’s uh.. this way.” Varian said.</p><p>  Cassandra followed him across the hall and into another bedroom, this one was almost identical to the previous except the window was smaller, and the previous owner had picked green to decorate it. It also had a few more pieces of furniture, like a dressing table, and a small bookshelf.</p><p>  “What do you think? It’s the second biggest in the house.”</p><p>  “It's nice.”</p><p> </p><p>  “I want to know what you really think. If you like it, I'll buy it, and we can decorate it together. We’ll make it comfortable for you.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Why does it matter if I like it? Or if I’m comfortable?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Because if you help to decorate, especially your own room, then it'll feel like home for you too. When ever you need a break from traveling, or a place to stay, then you'll have a home here.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Live with you?” Cassandra said shocked.</p><p> </p><p>  “I just know you don’t have your own room anymore, at least not here in Corona. I just thought it would be nice for you to have your own place.”</p><p>  “I don't know how much time I'm going to be spending in Corona.”</p><p>  “Well, maybe not Corona exactly, but it is a pretty central stopping point for travel to all of the seven kingdoms,. I travel around them all the time.”</p><p>  “I'm not sure...”</p><p>  “I mean, you don’t have a position at the moment right? And there are worst places than Corona. You might find a job here.”</p><p>   “I umm..” She didn’t know what to say. She had been looking for signs that Varian wanted a relationship with her, she hadn’t quite expected it to be asking her to move in with him. Yet, her feeling about being back in Corona were more complicated than she had expected them to be, she wasn’t comfortable here, and it was too early for her to be making moves to settle down there.  Varian was staring at her expectantly. But she didn’t know what to say.</p><p>  “I can fill this wardrobe with dresses for you.”  Varian said quickly, his enthusiasm not allowing for the silence between them, stepping over and putting his hand on the wardrobe.</p><p>  “I never thanked you for that dress, it fitted.” Cassandra said awkwardly trying to change the conversation.</p><p>  “I bet you looked amazing in it.” Varian said with a smile and soft eyes.</p><p>  “Varian, I don't think I'm staying in the area for long. This isn’t my home anymore.”</p><p>  “Then where is your home?”</p><p>  “I don't have one.”</p><p>  “Well, don't you want to have a place that's just yours? This can be that place. You can decorate it and have keys to come and go as you please, and I won't touch it, so it'll always be just as you left it.”</p><p>  “Varian.” Cassandra said raising her hand and giving a heavy sigh. “You can never go backwards. I can’t move back here. I can’t just become a lady in waiting again.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I wasn’t suggesting…”<br/><br/></p><p> “I was never able to be what I wanted to be here.”</p><p>  “But you’ve moved on. It’s not going backwards because you’re a different person than you were before, and there might be different opportunities now.”</p><p>  “I know what I am to people here.” Cassandra snapped. “In this city, I’m a villain or a servant, and that’s the best I could hope for.”</p><p>  Varian stilled, he looked older when he frowned, he even looked taller when the movement and enthusiasm stopped. She could glimpse in that moment Lord Varian, the rich womanising inventor, the one who was welcome in every palace in the seven kingdoms, the one who was well travelled and well respected.</p><p>  "Isn't the problem that you're allowing yourself to be define by your past.” He said quietly, his blue eyes boring into her. “Wasn't that the problem with the moonstone as well?"<br/><br/></p><p>   Cassandra couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped her throat, she hadn’t expected him to confront her with that, she thought there had been an unspoken agreement between her and her friends that it was off limits.</p><p>  "You were raised by the Captain of the Guards so your future was to be a guard, and then you found out you were the daughter of Gothel so your future was to wild one of the cosmic powers. Aren’t you just letting your past define you again."<br/><br/></p><p>  "No, other people are defining me by my past." Cassandra said thinking about the masks that had surrounded her the night before.<br/><br/></p><p>  "Then show them you've changed." <br/><br/></p><p>  "They'll never accept that."<br/><br/></p><p>  "They did with me, well, some, enough of them."<br/><br/></p><p>  "So, just invent something to make the city rich?"<br/><br/></p><p>  "It's not the big things that change their minds Cassandra, it’s the little everyday things that show who you truly are."</p><p>  “People here hate me Varian, and I don’t know if it’s worth me coming back if I have to work twice as hard to prove myself to people as I would have too somewhere else.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Just, listen okay. I’m sure there are some people here who still hold a grudge against you. But there are also people here who watched you grow up, who knew you from a small child, people here who were really surprised when they saw your loyalties turn away from Corona, so much so that they questioned it. When everybody found out that you’d been manipulated by Zhan Tiri, well to some people it offered the missing piece of the puzzle. There are some people here who would welcome you back, and others who would be wary but still willing to give you a second chance.”</p><p>  "Whatever I was hoping when I came back here, the reality isn't what I thought it would be."<br/><br/></p><p>  "Give it time Cassie."<br/><br/></p><p>  "I don't know if I can."</p><p>  Varian sighed and looked around the room. <br/><br/></p><p>  "You know, I could give you everything you ever desired, pull some strings, get you any position you wanted.” His voice lacked its previous enthusiasm, and his shoulders were slumped as if he had already accepted defeat.</p><p><br/>  "I know. I know you'd try, but I don’t know what I desire Varian, acceptance maybe. How can I get people to accept me for who I am, when who I am is forever changing?”</p><p>  "Your heart dousn't change "<br/><br/></p><p>  "Nope, still dragging in two directions as always.” <br/><br/></p><p>  "What does that mean?" Varian asked, his eyebrow crinkling together.<br/><br/></p><p>  She sighed, looking at the serious young man in front of her, so similar to the teenage boy she’d left, yet so different. Then there was the man who had held her the night before, the man who was expecting her to meet him outside the gates that night, though she’d made no promises to either, both of them had expectations of her, and the expectations made her feel even more anxious and lost, it was like nothing existed to ground her anymore.</p><p>  "Can we just be together as friends for a while? Can we just have some lunch and talk about our hopes and dreams and plans, like we did in our letters? Like we did on your eighteenth birthday?” <br/><br/></p><p>  "You're my hopes, and dreams, and plans."<br/><br/></p><p>  "It's all too much. I've been back one day. You haven't seen me since you were barely a child, and the way you’re talking..."</p><p>  "My heart knows you Cassandra." <br/><br/></p><p> </p><p>  He sighed, seeming to grow smaller again. "But you’re right, I shouldn’t expect too much. Let's have lunch and talk as if we were friends. I've waited seven years to talk to you. It's enough for now. I should just be happy to finally have you here with me. Just promise me one thing though, just stay around for long enough to give your heart a chance to speak over that hard head of yours."</p><p><br/>  "Hard head? Hey! What are you saying? Have all those chemicals finally melted your brain?” She said with a joke, though in her heart she felt far from joking.</p><p>  He gave a smile, that in turn didn’t reach his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her shoulder.</p><p>  “Come on, let’s get lunch.”</p><p>  The café was one that Cassandra did not know. She looked around the small empty dining room, it was one of those places that seemed full of cozy nooks, little bookshelves and patterned rugs.</p><p>  “Well, I guess we missed the lunchtime rush.” Cassandra said looking around the totally empty café.</p><p>  “Yeah, we’re lucky, we have our choice of seats.” Varian seemed to be trying hard not to look at her.</p><p>  “Ah! You’re finally here!” A middle-aged blonde lady said as she appeared under a brick archway. “I have everything ready for you as you wished.”</p><p>  “Hi Gaia.” Varian said awkwardly. </p><p>  “Right this way.” Gaia said leading them over to the middle table, which Cassandra noticed was the only one that was set with a candle and a small vase containing a white orchid. Varian pulled the chair out for Cassandra before sitting across from her.</p><p>  “There’s no menu.” Cassandra said looking at the table.</p><p>  “I um.. she’s just going to bring the food over.”</p><p>  “Oh, is it one of those daily special kind of places?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yeah, I guess.” Varian said staring down at the table.</p><p>  “Varian, what’s going on?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Uh.. I may have, maybe, hired out the entire café and set the menu.”</p><p>  “Because…”</p><p>  “I wanted it to be quiet so that we could talk without feeling awkward.”</p><p>  “Varian, there wasn’t any need to make all these plans. I just want to catch up with you, but it is nice that it’s quiet.”</p><p>  “Thanks Cassie.”  Varian reached across the table for her hand and she pulled it away sharply.</p><p>  “So uh… What’s for lunch?” Cassandra said nervously.</p><p>   “Cass, is there something wrong?”<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra sighed, she looked down at the white gloves covering her hands. She tightened them into fists. She was always aware of her hand, always aware of its deformity. The few times she had been caught without glove she had seen people staring at it, seen their eyes widen, and seen them flinch away from her if she got too close. Yet, this was Varian, and if she kept pulling away from him then he would get the idea that she didn’t want him close to her, and though she wasn’t sure what she felt for him yet, she didn’t want him to think that she was outright rejecting him. She wasn’t sure yet about anything, except in her letter she’d been able to be open with him, and that he was defiantly good looking these days. She sighed and pulled on the fingers of her white glove.</p><p>  “It’s just…this.” She said, looking down at the withered darkened skin. “People get scared of it.”</p><p>  She kept her eyes down on the tablecloth but she heard his sharp intake of breath.</p><p>  “Oh…”  He breathed out. “Oh, I thought it would have healed.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Well, it didn’t.” Cassandra reached to put her gloves back on when she felt a warm touch on the damaged skin, she jumped and looked up as Varian took her hand gently in his and turned it over to look at the palm.</p><p> </p><p>  “It dousn’t still hurt does it?” He asked curiously.</p><p> </p><p>  “Uh… no it dousn’t.”<br/><br/></p><p>   “Movement?”</p><p> </p><p>  She trembled slightly as the roughness of his callused fingers stroked across her palm.</p><p> </p><p>    “Big movements like holding things are fine, small things like writing I can’t really do with it, well not without it looking like it was written by a five-year-old.” She gently pulled her hand away from his, almost instantly missing the warmth.</p><p> </p><p>  “So that’s what the problem was?” Varian asked.</p><p> </p><p>  “Well, yes.” Cassandra said.</p><p> </p><p>   “Whew! I thought that maybe, I didn’t meet up to your expectations or something.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “My expectations? I have met you before.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I know, but I feel like we got to know each other in our letters, and it’s been seven years. I’ve been really looking forwards to seeing you in person again. I just thought maybe you had some expectations too, and I that wasn’t meeting them.”<br/><br/></p><p> </p><p>  “No, no expectations.” She lied.</p><p> </p><p>  “Oh, okay then.”  He said sounding disappointed.</p><p> </p><p>  “I mean, I…” She took a deep breath. “I enjoy your letters, and I was curious to see you in person.” She said quickly. “Look, I don’t do the emotional talking stuff.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I know.”</p><p> </p><p>  They sat back as Gaia walked in and put a large platter down on the table. Cassandra hadn’t noticed till she pulled away that they had been leaning in close to each other.</p><p> </p><p>  “So what is this?”  Cassandra asked.</p><p> </p><p>  “Well, here’s the thing. I know that we haven’t seen each other for seven years, and I know that you’re not long out of a relationship, but I’ve always admired you more than any other woman in the world Cassandra. You’re strong, determined, and loyal. I loved your letters because I got to know how you thought and how you saw the world, I got to know your inner thoughts and I… I fell for you. I know it’s fast, but you amaze me, and I want to have the chance for us to get to know each other again, properly.”</p><p> </p><p>  “I meant the food.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Oh… uh… it’s..um arancini, Gaia is Italian.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Arancini?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Rice balls.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Okay then.”</p><p> </p><p>  “I’m kind of embarrassed now.”</p><p><br/>  “Don’t be. I think I want to get to know you.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Think?”</p><p>  “Well, I’m not going to start making any big, complicated declarations.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yeah, I guess you’re not the sort.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “So… it was my letters?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Yes.”</p><p> </p><p>  “That’s good to know. I was worried that the childhood crush on me had just turned obsessive or something.”</p><p> </p><p>  He gave an awkward laugh.</p><p> </p><p>  “I uh.. guess I was pretty obvious.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Yeah. I mean, I think I get it, I saved your life, and you got a crush on me.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh! It wasn’t when you saved my life, it was before that.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Before that?” Cassandra asked taken aback. “What happened before that?”<br/><br/></p><p>“It was when you lifted me off the floor and shouted at me. “</p><p>  Cassandra stared at him, trying to make sense of what he’d said.</p><p>  “You’re hot when you’re angry.” He clarified.</p><p>  “You got a crush on me because I threatened you?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Pretty much.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “You’re weird, do you know that.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Huh yeah.” He said with a flippant wave of his hand. “I don’t know if I’m more weird or less weird now, but hey, that was the year I kidnapped the Queen and made an army of automatons to do my bidding, so I can say for a fact that I have definitely improved in emotional stability. I make better choices now.” He said with a wide sarcastic grin.</p><p>  “I’m not sure if I do.”</p><p>  Varian grin faulted.</p><p>  “What do you mean?”</p><p>  “Nothing.” Cassandra answered instantly regretting the words that had escaped her mouth, the words that had grown from the regrets and doubts she had been carrying around for months.</p><p>  “Hey, do you mean that guy ken…whatever?”</p><p>  “No.” Cassandra shook her head. “I just mean, I guess… I just, the last few years when I’ve been gathering information...”<br/> </p><p> “When you were a spy.”</p><p>  She shot him a warning look and he held his hands up in defense.</p><p>  “Sorry, first rule of being a spy, don’t say you’re a spy.”</p><p>   “I spent three years gathering information, and it’s like I was in constant danger of being found out, but I was never once scared. Now it’s all over though, I seem to get jumpy at the slightest thing.”</p><p>  “It left a scar.”</p><p>  “I guess I just wasn’t strong enough.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Cassandra you’re the strongest person I know, I doubt it’s that. I just think anybody would suffer a little after what you’ve been through, but it’s okay now, because you’re with friends and we’ll help you get your head sorted out.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra shook her head.</p><p>  “I don’t know if that’s possible, besides I’m not your responsibility. I made my own decisions, did things I didn’t think I’d ever do. I thought it was making me stronger, and yet somehow I’ve never felt so weak.”</p><p>  “I have some understanding of what kunoichi do.” Varian was staring intently at a spot on the flagstones some meters away. “I don’t agree with it, don’t agree with how you might have got the information, but I’m not asking for your past, I’m asking for your future so…”</p><p>  “What’s that supposed to mean?”</p><p>  “It means, I forgive you.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Forgive me! Forgive me for what? What do you think I did? I didn’t torture anybody for the information…oh.” She suddenly understood. There was silence between them for long moment.</p><p>  “You think I slept with people to get the information?”</p><p>  Varian’s pursed his lips and met her eyes.</p><p>  “Like I said, I don’t agree with it, but it’s in the past.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “For your information.” She hissed leaning in. “I never did that. I would have done, I thought for a while that I might have to, but it turns out that the bad guy I was after had no taste for a gaijin. Whatever it took to get him convicted for his crimes would have been worth it, do you know how many people he killed? He wiped entire villages out.”</p><p>  “Look, don’t you think you just gave too much of yourself away? Don’t you think you fell to deeply into what you were doing? Saying you were willing to do anything…”</p><p>  “That’s enough Varian.”<br/><br/></p><p>  "I'm just saying that you're somebody who’s willing to do whatever needs to be done for everybody else’s kingdom, but what about your own? Hell, what about just yourself? It’s like you’re willing to protect everybody except yourself. I think it’s a good thing that you’ve come back here, at least whilst you’re here you’re safe.”<br/><br/></p><p>  She scoffed at that.</p><p>  “Safe? Varian last night at the party people were whispering to me, calling me a witch and deliberately tripping me up.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I didn’t know that.” He said reluctantly. “Still, it’s worth trying.”<br/><br/></p><p>  "Worth trying?” What have I got to come back here for?"</p><p> </p><p>  "Me! Rapunzel, the girls, Eugene even."<br/><br/></p><p>  "You? We're already fighting."<br/><br/></p><p>  "That's because I'm never going to be scared to fight with you, or for you, because you are worth it Cassandra. I'd keep you safe, unlike that Kenjaro. He was the one who was putting you into danger, making you go and spy on that warlord, then dumping you a few months after the mission was over."<br/><br/></p><p>  "It wasn't like that, it just wasn't working anymore."<br/><br/></p><p>  "He was using you!"</p><p>  "He was training me. I’m a batter warrior now than I ever could have imagined!”</p><p>  “A warrior scared of her own shadow.”</p><p>  “Why are you so quick to judge anyways? Do you know how many people have told me that you're a womaniser since I arrived? Are you telling me you don't use women?"</p><p>  "Usually they're the ones trying to use me, for my wealth and influence. As far as I see it as a fair exchange. They know what they’re getting, and I know what I’m getting.”</p><p>  “Fair exchange? Is that why you're trying to impress me with all this, a big house and golden mask! What exactly are you hoping in exchange?"</p><p>  "Everything!" He shouted. Then he stilled. They stared at each other for a moment until Varian closed his eyes and Cassandra could see him take several deep breaths. "Everything." He said quietly not opening his eyes. "I want everything. Everything you are, for everything I am and everything I have. Is that not a fair exchange? Am I still not worth it? After all this?"<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra stared at him, his words sinking in. He opened his eyes, and she could feel her chest tighten.  </p><p>  "Don't answer that." He said standing up.</p><p>  "Wait!" She said catching his wrist. "Listen to me, it was never about you having to prove yourself, it was never about you being good enough. You must know it just wasn't our time."</p><p>  He pulled his hand away. "It'll never be our time, because you just won't give it a chance."</p><p>  Cassandra watched as he walked out of the café, her heart was racing, it felt as if everything was collapsing around her.</p><p>  “Oh!” She turned and saw Gaia carrying another tray.  “I guess that wasn’t happy shouting.”</p><p>  Cassandra sighed.</p><p>  “No, it wasn’t.”</p><p>  “Passion can go two ways.” Gaia said with an understanding nod.</p><p>  “How much do I owe you?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “It’s been paid for.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Right, thank you.” Cassandra said as she turned to leave.</p><p>    Cassandra sat on the windowsill looking out over the town to the sea in the distance. She knew that Varian was the true reason she had come back to Corona, but all she had done was argue with him. She’d known he was clever and sensitive  from his letters, and now she knew that he was beautiful, just beautiful. It might not be a word that was often applied to men, but it made sense to him with those wide shoulder, thin waist, large warm hands with nimble seeming fingers, and stunning eyes that had made her stomach flutter when they had looked directly at her. He wanted to be with her, and she had just ended up fighting with him.</p><p>  Then, there was the man from the night before, a man whom she didn’t know but felt so familiar. She had trusted him in the end, she’d tried to fight it but there was something inside her that just trusted him implicitly however unwise it was. He wanted her to meet him tonight, but if she did, what did it mean? And would it be closing the door on Varian forever? She didn’t know if that’s what she wanted. She knew Varian, she’d known him as a youth and she knew him from his letters, she may not have liked what he had said to her, but part of that was because he was voicing aloud thoughts that she’d had herself on numerous occasions.</p><p>  She’d expected this trip to give her some rest bite from the confusion and anxiety that had been present in her life for the last few months, maybe she did need to get lost back in the fantasy again, perhaps what she needed, what she really needed right now, was to act and not to think so much. Perhaps what she really needed was warm hands on her thighs, teeth grazing her lips, the rhythmic movements of a man inside of her.</p><p>  There was a knock on the door.</p><p>  “Come in.” Cassandra called noting that the annoyance had slipped into her voice.</p><p>  Rapunzel’s head appeared in the doorway.</p><p>  “Hi, I heard you were back early.”<br/>  </p><p>  Cassandra didn’t know how to answer so she just turned to look back out of the window, at the town she had once called home, and the wide open sea that offered her an escape from it.</p><p>  “So…” Rapunzel said sitting down on the bed. “How’s Varian?”</p><p>  “Grown up.”<br/> </p><p> “Yeah, I know. Though sometimes he still seems like the teenager we first meet. He is no way near as self-assured and confident as pretends to be.”</p><p>  “Rapunzel, who was I dancing with last night? You seemed to know him.”</p><p>  There was a deep silence, and Cassandra turned her head to look at Rapunzel’s stunned expression.</p><p>  “Do you really not know?”</p><p>  “I…” Cassandra could see the blue eyes behind the gold, feel the warm hand as it rested on her waist whilst dancing, hear the soft words whispered with desperate wanting.</p><p>   There was another knock at the door.</p><p>  “Oh who now!” Cassandra said.</p><p>  “I’ll get it.” Rapunzel got up and opened the door. “Oh! I’ll give it to her.” She said before she shut the door. </p><p>  “It’s another present.” Rapunzel said putting a small parcel on the bed.</p><p>  “What?”</p><p>  “A present, from your not-so-secret admirer.”</p><p>  “Wait? Varian?”</p><p>  “Do you have more than one?”</p><p>  “Maybe.” Cassandra said distractedly. “Why is he giving me a present, we just argued.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “You did?” Rapunzel asked sounding confused.</p><p>  Cassandra picked up the slim box from the bed and looked down at it. She sighed and sat next to Rapunzel.</p><p>  “I think I ruined everything Raps.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “What do you mean? Whatever you argued about Varian understands how important it is to forgive, and he really likes you, so I’m sure it’ll all work out.”<br/> </p><p> “It’s not just that, it’s everything, my whole life. I thought I was making the right decisions, but now I feel like I just spent years going down the wrong path and I feel…. Haunted. It’s like I’ve forgotten who I am.”</p><p>  She felt fingers claps around hers.</p><p>  “You just need some time with the people you love Cass. We remember who you are.”</p><p>  “I’m just… Can I tell you something?”</p><p>  Rapunzel nodded.</p><p>  “I feel torn, there’s these two men, one who offers me everything I could ever desire, and one who offers me everything I could ever desire."</p><p> </p><p>  “Wait, two men?”<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra nodded.</p><p> </p><p>  “But you broke up with Kenjaro three months ago and now there are two men?”</p><p> </p><p>  “Rapunzel.” Cass whined.</p><p> </p><p>  "Okay, focus. Two men who both offer you everything you desire. So you’re saying they're equal?"</p><p> </p><p>  "No, because they meant different things.”</p><p> </p><p>  "Different things?”</p><p> </p><p>    “Desire, and <em>Desire</em>.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Oh!” Rapunzel’s eyes widened. “Oh, I see. So um.. do you care for both these men?”<br/> </p><p>  “I don’t know. I defiantly care for one but it’s complicated because…” Cassandra hesitated.</p><p> </p><p>  “Because he’s Varian, and you just argued.”<br/> </p><p> “Yes.”</p><p> </p><p>  “And the other?”</p><p> </p><p>  “I have to admit, what he said, it intrigued me. I mean, why does that sound so exciting? It’s just sex, there’s only so many ways that you can do it, and then it’s over fifteen minutes later, I mean, what’s the fuss about anyways?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I think it can be exciting, I mean there are lots of different ways, Eugene says you’re only limited by your imagination and the directions your spine can bend in.”</p><p>  “I did not need to know that.”</p><p>  “Well, and the countries laws I guess, I mean, I’ve sat in on a few cases that..”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Rapunzel! You’re getting distracted.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Distraction! That’s exactly what you need. Let me go and finish up signing a few pieces of paper and we’ll go and spend time with the girls, that will distract you. I promise. Once you’ve got some distance from the problem you’ll see it differently. Oh wait! You asked me who you were dancing with last night? What was his mask like?”</p><p>  “It was golden, with ivy leaves.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Again, Rapunzel looked shocked.</p><p>  “I thought you must have danced with somebody else. Cassandra, are you telling me you don’t know who that was?”</p><p>  Cassandra glanced at the small box on the bed.</p><p>  “No, I know.” Cassandra said. “I know who he is. It just took me a while to work it out.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh..” Rapunzel hesitated as she got up to leave. “Are you going to come see the girls with me?”</p><p>  “Yes, just give me a few minutes. I want to see what Varian sent me.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Of course. See you in a few minutes.”</p><p>  Rapunzel left and Cassandra picked up the slim box. She slid the lid off and looked at the sharp green letters that were scrawled across the tissue paper.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I’m sorry for the things I said. You were right, I was making assumptions, and I shouldn’t have done that. If you give me the chance, I promise that I’ll try to understand you next time.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Forgive me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>If you can’t see me as a romantic partner, at least let me be your friend. I really just want you in my life Cassie. However broken you feel, you’re still a whole lot of amazing to me. <br/>P.S.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I hope one day you no longer feel the need to hide this, but until you do, I believe these will be comfortable.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>  She parted the paper and saw a pair of black satin gloves lying beneath, similar to the ones that had got ruined the night before, but these were obviously much finer, the material was silken and cool beneath her fingers and there were tiny delicate buttons made from jet going up the split in the side. She sighed and put the box back down on the bed. She still had a choice to make, did she go to the southern gate tonight or not?</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Beyond the Fantasy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>In case you hadn’t realized, there’s a sex scene coming up, and although it is the last chapter I wasn’t going to leave that big bed unused so there will be an epilogue featuring some light BDSM.</p><p> </p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> “Careful Miss, there’s a storm coming.”</p><p>  Cassandra pulled the hood a little further over her face. She didn’t recognize the guard stood by the south gate, and she was hoping that he wouldn’t recognize her. The last thing she needed was rumors flying around about how the witch Cassandra had gone into the forest at night.</p><p>  “How do you know? There’s not a cloud in sight.” She asked.</p><p>  “It’s the wind Miss, and my knee. It always hurts when there’s a storm coming. You should get inside soon Miss.”</p><p> “I will.” She said, though in fact she did not know if she would or wouldn’t. Her determination wasn’t going to be shaken by somebody’s bad knee.</p><p>  “Be careful on the Western road if you’re going that way.”</p><p>  “Robbers?”</p><p>  “No, Corona dousn’t have any problems like that anymore. The path is just very uneven Miss, a few low hanging branches as well.”</p><p>  “I’ll be careful.” Cassandra said over her shoulder, walking quickly. She had dithered in her room for a long time, though to do so had been pointless, if she was honest with herself it was always clear to what she was going to do. Her heart was fully set on it, however hard she tried to convince herself that it was a bad idea. Running into the dark woods after a man she didn’t really know. A man who may not even be there. A lot of things had changed since he had whispered in her ear the night before.</p><p>  She made her way down the short path, past a few conifer trees till she reached the large oak tree that was just out of view of the gates. It was a well-known meeting spot. As she went to lean against it, she could see the rows of initials that lovers had carved into the tree. She had always rolled her eyes at the people who meet here, but now she was having her own clandestine meeting. She leaned against the tree and took a deep breath of the slightly cool air. Going by the town clock as she had passed, she should only have a few minutes to wait.</p><p>  The night was still warm but there was a slight bite to the breeze. There was a soft rustling noise from the movement of the leaves, Cassandra felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. It was hard not to feel anxious when the wind was blowing through a forest, the noise, the movements just caught out of the corner of her eye. It was hard to relax, her mind told her it was just the wind, but she knew that there could be thugs in the woods. She wondered what the time was now and questioned whether he would actually show.</p><p>  What was she doing here?</p><p>  She’d messed things up. She wondered about leaving, tried to convince herself to move, but her legs were rooted to the stop. There was a long high-pitched whistle as the wind got caught in between the nearby rocks. She turned, and then she saw it, a figure appearing from out the darkness of the woods, a tall slim figure, with what looked like long horns protruding out of his head. She took a step backwards before she remembered the branches on the mask from the night before. He had come.</p><p>  He moved slowly through the night and she stepped forwards from the shadow of the grand oak, pulling her hood down, showing her face as it was framed by the gold filigree mask. As he came closer, and she saw those familiar blue eyes her breath caught in her throat and her chest felt full.</p><p>“I didn't know if you would come Cassie.” He said.</p><p>  The use of her nickname would have confirmed everything if her heart had not already told her who he was.<br/><br/></p><p>“Nor did I.” She admitted, she took a deep breath. She wasn’t used to discussing her feelings, but if she didn’t open up now, then she might lose somebody dear to her.</p><p>  “I had a fight with a friend today, and I’m sorry for it. I’d been waiting to see him in so long, and I didn't want it to be like that. He was one of the main reasons I came back to Corona.”<br/><br/></p><p>“He was? I mean, I hope he knows how lucky he is then. So, why are you here?”<br/><br/></p><p>“Because I listened to my heart, and it said it didn't want to waste a night that could be spent with you. Why did you come?”</p><p>  “I'm going crazy with want for you, I needed to hold you or be taken to bedlam because I cannot take this need for you any longer. I will be everything you ever wanted.”</p><p> </p><p>“I want you to be yourself.”</p><p> </p><p> His hand grabbed her waist and pulled her the short distance towards him. She fell against his solid body, off guard she looked up and felt herself falling further into the deep blue of his eyes. His head bent down towards her and their breaths mixed  together for a moment before his lips closed over hers with a fierce pressure. She sunk into the kiss, it was simply everything, her heart soared, she only had to let it.</p><p> </p><p>  As her lips parted and his tongue found hers, they heard a low growl of thunder in the distance. Cassandra pulled away.</p><p>  “We should go, the weathers turning.”</p><p>  “It’s just a summers storm. I have something I want to show you.” His hand dropped from her waist and his finger laced with hers.  “Come. It’s not far.”<br/> </p><p>  As they walked through the dark forest the night seemed to change, though twigs broke beneath their feet and the air around them cooled, Cassandra didn’t feel anxious anymore. The hand firmly around hers was leading her deeper into the woods but she had already decided to follow the masked man anywhere. Cassandra looked closely at him as she followed a half step behind. Though he was wearing the golden mask he wasn’t wearing any of the rest of his party attire. Instead, he was wearing tan trousers, and a long dark leather jacket. He cut a fine shape, neither short or tall, with broad shoulders but thin waist, the material at the top of his arms was stretched taut, and his hands were just a touch too large to be in proportion with his body.</p><p>  “Watch your step, it’s not far.” He said as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and started to lead her off the path.</p><p>  After a few minutes of stepping over logs and dodging foliage they reached a large clearing in the trees, lit by a dozen lanterns. It was a strange area, almost a perfect circle. Cassandra had a vague memory of having found the space as a teenager and wondered if it was a manmade clearing. What was definitely manmade was the telescope that was sat in the middle of the opening and the large throw pillows and blankets that were surrounding it. It was the years as a handmaiden that made her instantly worry about grass stains and the chance of the cushions getting soggy, they would smell for months if they didn’t dry out properly. She held her tongue though, she shouldn’t find fault when he had obviously put thought into it.</p><p>  “Stargazing?” She asked.</p><p>  “Okay, I understand it may not be quite your thing, but If you just give me two minutes, I’ll show you what I want to show you and then you can eat as many fastnachts as you like, they have cinnamon sugar.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Cassandra gave him a slight smile. “Who dousn’t like cinnamon.”</p><p> “I thought it was a safe bet.” He knelt down, and suddenly the air was filled with the heady slight spiced smell of hot blood wine, instantly filling her with memories of Corona before she had left, evenings sat by the fireplace with her father, Christmas parties where the nights passed in a comfortable daze, her friends making a little barrier between her and the world, their own little group separated yet still a part of the party. It was a comforting smell, one that made her instantly relax a little.</p><p>  “Still hot, my flask worked.” She heard him mutter, moments later he was passing her a mug of the warm wine, she took a sip and felt it wipe away the chill from the night.</p><p>  “It’s good.” Cassandra said. “So, is there a shooting star?” Cassandra asked.</p><p>  “Better.” He said with an enthusiastic grin.  He turned his attention to the telescope, kneeling on the grass and twiddling some of the dials on the side.</p><p>  “Here, come look.” He said, dragging a pillow over for Cassandra so she wouldn’t have to kneel on the grass. She bent to look through the telescope, though there were a number of stars in view the ones in the center were obviously what he was trying to show her, they were lined up next to each other perfectly.</p><p>  “They’re not stars, are they?” Cassandra said puzzled.</p><p>  “Nope, planets. They’re aligned tonight, it only happens every forty years. Venus is the one with a slight green tinge, Mars is the small red one.”</p><p> </p><p>  “Only every forty years? That’s impressive.” She said looking back through the telescope.</p><p> </p><p>  He had set this up for her, so she wanted to seem interested and grateful, but she was only interested in the stars as tools for navigation, and then it was only when she was really lost at night, which didn’t happen all that often.</p><p> </p><p>  “Somebody once told me,” he said distractedly, “when something is destined, all you have to do is wait for your stars to align. It sounded so simple at the time, but often waiting is the hardest thing to do. You sometimes start to have doubts if the day will ever come.”</p><p>  She turned and looked at him, his face was pale under the mask, the gold gleaming in the light of the lanterns.</p><p>  “I stopped believing in destiny years ago.”</p><p> “ I thought you travelled to find your destiny?”</p><p>  “What I found was that I prefer the idea of being in control of life, and not having to reach some kind of predestined marks on a map that I never chose to follow.”</p><p>  “I guess sometimes we aren’t in control of everything, and if we don’t accept that it just makes life harder. Everything’s a balance isn’t it?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “When did you get so wise?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “When I made mistake after mistake and had to prove to everybody afterwards that I had learnt something from it all.”</p><p>   “I never stuck around to prove myself after my mistakes. Maybe I didn’t learn my lessons.”<br/> </p><p>  “Maybe there’s a few more for both of us to learn. Perhaps we can figure them out together?”</p><p>  “So, now your stars have aligned, what happens?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I get you.”</p><p>  “Is that so?” She said, putting her mug down.</p><p>  “Yep, destiny.”</p><p>  “A destiny that I don’t believe in. Are you going to say that I should accept that I am not in control of everything?”</p><p><br/> “No, this you are in control of. Total control.”</p><p>  He leaned in close to her, till all she could see was blue eyes. His hand wrapped in her hair, her eyes closed waiting, her body filling with delicious anticipation, but his kiss never came. After a few moments she opened her eyes, confused as to what was happening.</p><p>  “As I said.” He whispered, his lips millimeters from hers. “You’re in control.”</p><p><br/>  “Kiss me.”</p><p>  She didn’t have time to close her eyes, didn’t have time to breath, because his lips met hers fiercely, and all she could do hungrily return the firm movements, melting into the sensations, the light nips, the fighting and conceding, the hands grasping at her back trying to pull her closer though she was already crushed to him. Her hands found their way to the firmness of his chest, the hard planes of it, more sculptured under the thin shirt below his jacket than she would have imagined. Her hands swept up to cling to broad shoulders, trying to hold onto something solid as she felt the world around her being swept away. There was a rumble of thunder, it did not fall on death ears but far from making them stop to seek shelter it pushed them onwards.</p><p>  Fingers worked on garments, the fine line of buttons on Cassandra’s silken green top parting one by one, slowly under shaking fingers. His lips parted from hers for a moment as he looked down at the material, the way it opened only to reveal more silken material of her chemise.</p><p>  “Damnit.” He muttered. “Remind me to invent clothes that come apart more easily.”</p><p>   Cassandra was going to answer when he stepped away from her. She watched as the closings of his shirt were undone. The flickering lights of the lanterns both warmed and darkened his skin, creating a dance of shadows across the shallow raises and dips of well-defined abdominal muscles. Cassandra let her eyes roam over him, not realizing that she was holding her breath. She wanted to feel those muscles against her lips, she wanted to press her face into them and taste the warmth of his skin, yet she was frozen, unable to move, unable to breath, or do anything but stare.</p><p>  A light smirk graced his lips.</p><p>“Do I please you my lady?”</p><p>  She took a deep breath but did not answer because his hand was fiddling with his belt, and he stared at her intently as he let the material of his trousers fall to the floor. He stood before her completely naked, and she saw how the muscles of his stomach dipped into a V, and another muscle arose from between his legs, the sight of which set off an awareness, a light throbbing, a need so deep inside of her that she felt it would never be satisfied. But she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to try.</p><p>  She had come here for him, she had known what would happen if she went down to the woods tonight, it wasn’t a big surprise, well, perhaps the problem was that it was a big surprise, how much she felt, how much she wanted, but also how somewhere, deep inside, she still felt unsure. She tried to shake the feeling from her mind as he came to her and taking the back of her neck in his hand proceeded to kiss down it, grazing her skin with his teeth and leaving her trembling.</p><p>  He worked at her buttons more successfully now, and after pushing the material of the blouse to the floor she raised her arms for him to lift her chemise off of her, he kissed her bare skin hungrily, across collar bones, into the perfumed hollows beneath her arms, down her sides, at first ignoring her breasts, before grasping upon them and snuggling his nose into the softness of her flesh so that she could feel nothing but the damp warmth breath of him against her. Then she felt the light coolness of a tongue start to move over her and she threw her head back allowing him more access. He pushed the skirt from her hips.</p><p>  “I want you, more than any person has ever wanted another.” His hand slipped down her stomach, the back of his knuckles leaving a hot trail against her skin.</p><p> “I want to smell the air filled with our love making. I want to feel the slickness of sweat covered skin against mine, taste the saltiness of it on my lips. I want to hear you shout my name to the heavens and then whisper it like a prayer. I want to know all that is possible to know of your body. I want to be every man you’ve ever dreamed of, the only one who makes you experience your most intense fantasies.” His lips grazed her neck as he whispered in her ear.</p><p>  “Let me be teacher and student. Let me be master and slave, sweet slow heaven and cruel painful pleasure. Let me simply worship you.”</p><p>  Blood rushed through her veins at his words. A shiver of nervous anticipation ran up her spine as if her body held to much energy. As she tried to speak, she found the words caught in her throat, there was no clever comeback to be had, logic and doubt had fled. She licked her lips and let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.</p><p> “Yes.”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p> “Yes. Yes to everything, to anything, just yes.”</p><p>  His strong calloused hands felt rough against her skin as they slid down her waist, holding her firmly. She gasped as she was easily lifted off her feet and carefully laid down into the soft moss. He laid next to her, kissing her soundly before turning and pulling her on top of him.</p><p>  She could feel the gentle curve of his manhood pressing against her thigh, her body rocked against it, centered herself over him, wanting to feel the length of him against the lips of her sex, but his fingers dug deeply into her thighs urging her to move forwards.</p><p>  She looked at him confused.</p><p>“Sit on my face.”</p><p> “What?”</p><p>  “I’m going to have to insist my lady.”</p><p> His hands lifted her once more, bringing her up so that she was kneeling over his upper chest, his fingers reached for her and she gasped as she felt them sliding into the swollen lips of her sex, deftly finding that spot that gave her the most pleasure. A long shiver ran down her spine as the pleasure rose inside of her. Her lover for tonight knew his ways around a woman’s body it would seem, but still he was staring up at her from under his mask with a hungry anticipation, he was waiting for something, but she didn’t know what. She stared at him, feeling uneasy when moments before she had felt nothing but pleasure and want, though she was an experienced woman it was as if she was missing some piece of knowledge that was expected of her.</p><p>  He ran the back of his hand over her jaw.</p><p>  “I’m going to tie you to my bed and make you scream.” He said, “I’m going to spend hours making slow love to you. I’m going to paint your body with chocolate and lick it all off, but first I want to see you take your pleasure from me, use me, do whatever feels good, I am just an object for your pleasure.”</p><p>  His face bent towards her center and she could feel the tickle of his breath against her.</p><p>“What are you doing?” She asked. <br/><br/></p><p>  “Whatever you tell me to.”</p><p> “I uh…” She stared blankly at him.</p><p>  He froze for a second looking at her.</p><p>  “Ah, I understand. Let me be direct, I want to run my tongue all over you, I want to dive it into you and feel your muscles around me, I want to taste you Cassandra. Now, what do you like?”</p><p>  “I uh..” She didn’t know what she liked, because she’d never had a man put his mouth down to that area, it seemed too intimate almost. She didn’t know how she felt about it, but he seemed to know what he was doing, and he seemed to expect her to know what she was doing too.</p><p><br/> “Do you like it when you rub up and down, or around in circles? Or should I just do the alphabet?” There was something a touch sarcastic about the quirk of his lips.</p><p>  “Oh, circles. Alphabet sounds too complicated.”</p><p><br/> “Yeah, it’s not the best.”</p><p>  Then she felt the warmness of his mouth on her. There was no reason for it not to feel good, no reason at all, except it just didn’t. Physically, it was tingly, there was a pleasant pressure and a lapping sensation pushing at her most intimate parts, but the idea of it didn’t feel right to her, she felt so… on display, and she was tensing her thighs making sure that she didn’t sink down and smother him. She just couldn’t relax, and surely, he expected her to enjoy this, surely, it would be normal to enjoy it. So why wasn’t she?</p><p>  Her partner though, given the light grunts and groans, was enjoying himself. She felt the pressure of his tongue start to push lightly at her, working himself into her, slick and flickering lightly. She closed her eyes, threw her head back, tried to concentrate on the sensations but the questions kept running through her mind, what was he seeing, tasting? How did he expect her to react? Could he tell how strange she was finding this. Was it her who was strange not to be enjoying this? He had talked of pleasure as if it were a sure thing, so why wasn’t it? If she could only get out of her head.</p><p>  “Uh… perhaps we can try something else?” Cassandra said.</p><p>  There was a wet sound as his tongue and lips slowly left her. She looked up at her and she found herself pushing away from her because it was just too strange to see his eyes looking up at her from the region below her belly button.</p><p>  “What would you like my lady?”</p><p>  She found herself shuffling on her knees until she felt his hardness rub against her belly, leaving a damp smear on her skin.</p><p>  “I’m ready.” She said with a false confidence. She had wanted him so much a few minutes ago, she knew that this was just a blip, they had tried something, and it hadn’t worked for her, they could get back on the right track.</p><p> “Okay.” He panted.</p><p>  She went to swing her legs back over him to lie on the soft moss and let him enter her, but his hands clutched at her hips.</p><p>  “Like this.” He said, his hands reached between them and she felt that hard warm flesh run between her legs, angling upwards resting gently against her opening. She closed her eyes, ready to feel that moment of joining, but it didn’t come. She looked down at him to see him staring at her intensely. She realised that he had stopped on purpose, he was waiting for her, again he was putting her back in charge. She sunk down onto him, filling herself. There was a sting as her body stretched to accommodate him. She took a deep breath and concentrated on relaxing her muscles, she was used to this moment, her brain was telling her that she wanted this, she truly wanted this, but her body hadn’t fully caught up yet.</p><p>  She'd never done it like this, she awkwardly raised herself on her hips, sinking down on him a few times, not sure what he wanted. He reached for her, his hands running from her stomach up to her breasts where he ran his thumbs over her nipples and gently squeezed. She gasped, feeling the sensation spread down to her core, she put her hand on his stomach and rocked back and forwards, this time feeling as if she were getting a little more pleasure out of it. He just stared up at her, mouth slightly open.</p><p> </p><p>  "Take your pleasure Cassandra, find what feels best for you. I just want to watch you." He ran his thumb over her lip as he spoke, and it slipped in between them when her lips opened slightly.</p><p> </p><p>  She was stuck in her own head, stuck feeling uncomfortable embarrassed even. The glint of the mask in the moonlight, the awkward friction within her was not drawing her under but instead making her feel more and more aware of the world, aware of the slight coldness of the wind, aware that something just wasn’t quite right. For a moment she looked down at the masked man in front of her and the way the shadows fell across his face made him unrecognizable, the image of masks crowding around her, feet stomping close to her hand, the dizzying breathless anxiety starting to encroach. She closed her eyes, bit her lip, tried to concentrate on the feel of the man inside her but there was too much friction now as if things had just become to dry. Then she heard him softly say her name, his hand come to rest on her cheek, thumb running across her lips again.</p><p>   His words repeated in her mind ‘find what feels best for you’.</p><p>  “Cassandra.” He said again softly. “Is something wrong?”<br/><br/></p><p>  The last of the fantasy was broken.</p><p>  She put her hand on his stomach and slowly shifted herself, wincing slightly until she was free from him. Realizing her intention, he reached up and helped her to awkwardly climb to the side of him and then sat up and looked at her with something in his eyes akin to worry or hurt. He took hold of her hand before bowing his head slightly to look into her eyes.</p><p>  “Cassie, what’s wrong?”</p><p>  She pursed her lips; she knew what she had to do but didn’t know If it would cause another argument.</p><p>  She looked up at him, her hands reached for the cold metal covering his face.</p><p>  “This, Varian. This is what’s wrong.”</p><p>  He let out a sharp gasp, backing away slightly. For a long moment he just stared at her, and there was a weary silence between them, as if neither were quite willing to make the next move or say the next words.</p><p>  Eventually Varian’s long fingers went to his face and he untied the mask, letting it fall from him.</p><p>  There was a somewhat sheepish look on his face, his eyes not quite meeting hers. How had he fooled her for so long? It was all so clear to her now, the way she trusted him, the way her chest felt full when she had seen him, the way her body had ached for him at the simplest of touches, it could only ever have been her Varian.</p><p>  “I…. I never meant it to go this far.” He whispered staring down at the ground between them.</p><p>  Cassandra untied the silk laces of her own mask, drawing it away from her face and holding it towards him.</p><p>  "Why the masks Varian?"</p><p>  "My plan was to go to the masquerade, dance with you, then take of my mask and say, 'surprise I'm here', but then when we talked, you said that I was just a friend and that's probably all I’d ever be."</p><p><br/>  "I never said that though."</p><p>  "Maybe not, but it's what I thought you meant, and I thought that since you didn't recognise me, I had a chance to show you another side of me. To show you the other types of feelings, the ones that we're meant to hide. To show you that I would be all you ever wanted me to be."<br/><br/></p><p>  " Varian, I only want you to be yourself."</p><p>  "Everything I've done, everything I've worked to achieve, hoping that one day you would come back and be impressed by me. Then, you actually came back, and it's all disappears and I'm just that fourteen-year-old kid, trying to impress his first love with trinkets and obvious lines, just that eighteen-year-old who can't believe how lucky he is to steal a kiss from a woman way out of his league, and trying to figure out how to make it happen again."</p><p>  "There was nothing obvious about that bed tying line."<br/> </p><p>He gave a light sarcastic laugh that held no humour only bitterness.</p><p>"Yeah, might have gone a bit too honest with that one."<br/><br/></p><p>"Well, I'm going to be free on Wednesday if you want to write it into your diary."</p><p>  His mouth dropped open.</p><p>  "Look, you are still that fourteen-year-old kid, and that's a good thing, because I really liked that kid, but your wrong if you think I don't see everything you've become, because I do, and it amazes me."</p><p>  She put her hand on his face, tilting it up so that he would look her in the eyes.</p><p>  “I see you Varian. You don't have to wear a mask. I know who you are. I've always known who you are, I just took a while to believe it could be you.”</p><p>  “But, when I was me, we argued.”</p><p> “The moment held a lot. A lot of anticipations, a lot of questions, I guess I just wasn’t ready to answer them yet. My fears got in the way.”</p><p>  He put his hand on her shoulder, and for a moment, a flash of a moment she considered shrugging it off.</p><p>  “Listen.” She said. “It’s not great when you have to confront the mistakes you made, it’s not great when you realize that your heads a bit damaged, and it was your own choices that led to it. “</p><p>  “It was that Ken..”</p><p>   She stopped him, putting her hand up.</p><p>  “I’m not going to put the blame on somebody else because that’s childish, I should have stopped doing that years ago, nobody has forced me to make the decisions that I’ve made. There were multiple occasions when I could have walked away, I was just so determined to be this image of a warrior that I dreamed up when I was a child, pigheadedness made me keep pushing and pushing myself despite the fact that there were other choices open to me. It’s just, I can’t accept that I’m broken, even though I’m scared all the time. I never wanted people to see me that way, I never wanted them to look at me with pity, because that’s the worst feeling. I know everybody wants to fix me but…”<br/> </p><p>  “"I don't expect to fix you.” He interrupted. “I don't see you as broken, just in flux between one state of being and another. We're always in flux humans, we're an unstable bunch of chemicals. I just want to be by your side as you make all those changes, I just want to be the solid element in your life."</p><p>“I don’t really understand…”</p><p> Long fingers grasped hers.</p><p> “I realize the reason we fought was because I wanted you to fit into the life that I had built here, I had always had this dream of impressing you and sweeping you off your feet, but that dream, it was childish. If you love somebody, you have to accept them as they are and not as your fantasy of what you think they should be.”<br/><br/></p><p> “I don’t know what I am at the moment.”<br/><br/></p><p> “And I still love you.” He reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t think you are nearly as lost as you think you are.”</p><p>  She looked away, denying his words, she was lost, so lost, how could he not see it.</p><p>“I don’t think you’re that lost”, he continued, “because you still know the way back to yourself. That’s why you came back here at the end of the day, you might not have thought it through , or understood it,  but I think you were led back to the people who know you and love you so that they can remind you who you are. You’re not going backwards by being here, you got lost, and so you retraced your steps back to somewhere familiar.”</p><p>  She sighed as his words sunk in.</p><p>“I don’t know if I want to stay here permanently.”</p><p>“I know, and I have to be okay with that.”</p><p>  There was silence between them for a long time as they just sat together, his thumb running over the back of her hand.</p><p>  “Listen to your heart Cassie, eventually everything will become clear.”</p><p>   “I got freaked out by a few drunk people at a party.” She muttered.</p><p>  “It’s okay, I think you had a right to be scared.”<br/><br/></p><p> “But I took those few people’s actions to mean that the whole city hated me.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I live here, I hear the talk. I can tell you that that is not true.” Varian assured her.</p><p>  “Fear drowns everything out.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I know.”<br/><br/></p><p> “I didn’t come here thinking about retracing my steps. I came here because of your letters. I came here because of you.”<br/><br/></p><p>  He glanced up at her, a hopeful smile on his face.</p><p>  “My heart led me to you.” Cassandra admitted.</p><p>  “And you still don’t believe in destiny?”</p><p>  “This was never destiny Varian. This was two people making a choice. The choice to be honest with each other, the choice to trust each other, isn’t that more powerful than destiny?”</p><p>  Varian gave a deep sigh.</p><p>  “I feel like I’ve messed everything up, made the situation worse, even this.” He made a vague gesture between their naked bodies. “I made this complicated. “</p><p>“I’m partly to blame, I went along with something that didn’t feel quite right.”</p><p>“It’s like you’re working against your body, not with it. You should never force something that feels unnatural, I’m sorry. I was playing a script in my head, I just wanted to see you enjoying yourself. I’m so sorry that you weren’t comfortable with it.” His hand snaked around and held the back of her neck, his forehead reasted against hers and she could feel the heat of his breath against her lips.</p><p>  “I would never want you to feel uncomfortable with me.” He whispered in her ear.</p><p>“There’s pushing boundaries and trying new things but then there’s pushing your body into something it dousn’t want.”</p><p><br/>  “I want you.” She said. “I do. My body will catch up. I’m used to not having much time. Sorry… I shouldn’t mention…” She let her voice drift off, she had been thinking about her times with Kenjaro again, it was hard not to compare being here in the woods, perhaps that’s why she had felt the need to push her body, perhaps that’s the association her mind made, the feeling of danger pushing her forwards.</p><p><br/>  “We have time though my lady. If you’ll have me, we have time.”</p><p>  She did not answer him, she didn’t know how much time she was willing to be around. She didn’t know anything anymore, so she couldn’t promise him time. She did know, she wanted to be here with him, here and now. She wanted to try.</p><p>  “I just.. I just thought you were the type of woman who likes to take the lead.” Varian said filling the silence.</p><p>“I guess in a lot of things I am, but not in this, in this, I guess …”</p><p> “You guess…”</p><p> “I guess I like to feel that moment when a man takes control, that power, that desire, that moment when I just willingly let go. I’m not the type to give in, not in life, but in … well in intimacy.”</p><p> “You’re kinda the opposite.” Varian said.</p><p>  “I don’t have to be the strong one, the one whose always in control.”</p><p>  “I’ve always hoped, that when I had been with a person for a while, they would become comfortable enough to play many roles, but if this is not the one you are comfortable playing right now then I understand. I’m sorry if I seemed pushy, I guess I’ve just been dreaming of you for so long, but this isn’t one of my fantasies to play out, this is reality and what you want matters too.”</p><p>  There was a deep rumble of thunder and they both looked up into the night sky, there were no stars to be seen now just the cover of cloud. As she looked up Cassandra felt the cool splash of rain hitting her face.</p><p>  Varina stood up. He reached his hand down towards her.</p><p>“Shall we go home?” He asked.</p><p>  She shook her head, taking his hand and giving him a light tug urging him to join her again on the floor.</p><p>“I want you.” She whispered it, as if it were a secret. After everything that they had done, the act he had been playing out with her, she still wanted him. She understood, she knew what it was to just do everything you could to get somebody to love you, she remembered her childhood. She knew what it was to be insecure but to hide it, she really could see him now – and she wanted him.</p><p>  He hesitated.</p><p>  “We have time.” He finally said. “There’s no need to rush things.”</p><p>  “I know.” She answered. “But I want you.”</p><p>  He looked down at her, eyes wide, slightly puzzled, and she knew then that he had been expecting rejection. He half fell half knelt on the ground beside her. His hands coming up to frame her face, eyebrows furrowed, and lips pursed in a question he didn’t voice. Then slowly, stroking a loose strand of hair back behind her ear he bent in and pressed his lips gently to hers, no longer the self-assured young man, no longer the masked stranger, just him, the boy she’d met at fourteen, given a meaningless kiss to at eighteen and fallen in love with slowly through letters over the space of three years. Her Varian, with his gentle nature and inquisitive mind. It was so slow, so simple, it left butterflies in her stomach, and she wondered if it was actually the first time somebody had kissed her with a question, the question of ‘will you be mine, not just tonight, but always’.</p><p>  Their eyes met each other as they pulled away, the firelight gleaming in them, the soft rain falling against their cheeks and catching in their eyelashes, then lips meet again and bodies pressed tight together. His hands tangled in her hair and he let out a sigh against her lips, as she slowly climbed into his lap.</p><p>  His hands reached up for hers and he untangled her hands from his hair. He pulled away from her and they sat for a moment panting against each other, then he gently leaned back and took the fingertips of her gloves gently pulling them off.</p><p> “No masks, no gloves, no pretenses or lies.” He said taking her damaged hand and pressing a light kiss to her fingertips. She watched him, feeling that strange full feeling in her chest again. For a moment all she could do was watch him, to stare at the freckles on his shoulder as he kissed her neck, to watch his long delicate fingers as the traced down her chest and  gently squeezed her breasts. She looked at the long strands of his hair as he bent his head to the plump flesh and gently nipped her skin, leaving a tiny purple mark. From this position she noticed the way the hair seemed to shine less in a certain part. She ran her hand over it and it felt slightly different.</p><p>“Dye.” She muttered.</p><p>  He mumbled a response, but she couldn’t hear it, then she let out a gasp herself as the coolness of his tongue traced and swirled patterns on her sensitive skin. His desire seemed to run into her from everywhere that his fingertips and lips touched, leaving molten trails down her back. She wanted him, she wanted him, she wanted him. She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. Her hands reached down, and he let out a gasp against her lips as she firmly took his hardness in her hand. The noises he made as she stroked him reverberated through her, seeming to move deeply inside her. She roughly pushed him to the ground, so he was lying flat below her. He looked shocked for a moment, but then he grinned.</p><p>  “I want to try this again; I want to feel as powerful as you see me.”</p><p>  “You don’t have to.”</p><p>  “Just… for a moment.” She said. “I want to.”</p><p>   He nodded and, his hands came to rest of her thighs as she reached down between them and easily lowered herself onto him, groaning not just at the feeling but at the knowledge that that he was inside of her, her Varian.</p><p>  She shifted herself moving up and downwards, and although it was exciting to see the way Varian’s head threw back, the way his eyes half closed she still had the feeling like she was missing something.</p><p>  “What am I meant to feel?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Like a goddess being worshipped.” He said breathlessly. <br/> </p><p>  “I meant on the inside.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Oh.” He said looking a little startled. “Is it just not hitting the right spot?”</p><p>  His large hands rested on her hips and he pulled her forwards slightly.</p><p>  “Lean back, try putting your hands on my knees.”</p><p>  Cassandra did as he suggested, and he began to rock into her with short sharp strokes. The first left her gasping as she felt something like a burst of energy inside her, a point of sensation deep within her. She couldn’t put a name to it, hadn’t experienced it before, but it was like a spot inside of her had suddenly become a star, a point of light, a tingling that spread.</p><p>  Each thrust led her a little further within her body, how hadn’t she known that it could do this? She had always been aware of that little nub of feelings hidden in the top of those lower lips but when a man had moved inside her before the excitement hadn’t come from this type of sensation, but from the rhythm, sense of fullness, and the excitement of being connected with a person in that intimate way. Her body was moving without any thought, she was rocking into every one of his movements now. Her back was arching. She was shivering and her head threw backwards as she heard a deep moan she couldn’t quite believe had come from her throat. Her body was responding so quickly to him, so quickly to this tiny shift in position, it had only been minutes since she had felt uncomfortable and now, her thoughts came in short sharp bursts interrupted by the sensation that demanded thoughts be forgotten. Her mind fought that for as long as it could, supplying words and descriptions of her new lover, muscular, the salty smell of salt mixed with the fresh earthiness of the rain, the short grunts he made as his hips continued their constant movement. Her lover, he was hers, strong muscles, and intense eyes, all hers.</p><p>  “You’re beautiful, so beautiful.” He muttered, with such utter conviction she believed him. She thrust her chest out further, bit down on her lip, feeling beautiful, feeling like she deserved his attention, putting on a slight show for him. She was what he wanted her to be, she was wanton and wild in that moment, and she loved it, the freedom of it.  When he looked at her, the lust, the look of amazement and admiration, the way that his whole focus was on her - It made her feel like she was seeing herself through his eyes, it made her feel more confident, stronger, something in her reawakened, an assurance about who she was, and she felt sexy and seductive, but more than that she felt as if maybe the lost parts of herself could be re-found if only she could see herself through the eyes of this man.  </p><p> </p><p>  A flash lit up the sky, mirroring the shots of energy travelling throughout Cassandra’s body, followed by a deep rumble.  The cold water ran down her neck, down her breasts, it pooled slightly at the point where their bodies met. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant though, the feel of the cooling water on her skin made each of her nerve ends tingle, it was like the world was caressing her in this moment. She was close, so close, her body shivering her hips stuttering, she couldn’t keep a decent rhythm.  She let out a startled gasp as she found herself flipped over onto her back. Varian’s hands closed over her wrists, he placed kisses to her neck, his gasps and groans close to her ears. She wrapped her legs around his back, pulling him closer, grinding into him, deeper, deeper, more, she just wanted more. Then, everything shattered.</p><p> The thunder competed with the sound of their abandoned shouts, their loud moans and shrill gasps, but in the end they won, and the storm quieted as if even the sky had learned not to try and outshine their wildness in that moment.  Again, and again, Cassandra could feel every fiber of her body quake with pleasure, till she became aware of a sharp grip on her thigh and Varian pulsing within her.</p><p> They collapsed on the ground, exhausted and shivering with the chill and the last of the sensations shooting through their bodies. Cassandra looked across at him, he was panting hard, but he turned to her and gave a wide smile.</p><p>  “We’re going to get the flu.” He said after a moment.</p><p>  Cassandra started to laugh, she didn’t know why, something relaxed and loose in her body just made it easy to laugh in that moment. She rested her hand against his chest feeling the fast heartbeat.</p><p>  “Well… that was…”</p><p>  “Yeah.” She said breathlessly.</p><p>  “Ow..ow..ow.” Varian said reaching up to his face. Cassandra sat up startled. “Varian, what is it?”</p><p>  “The dye ran into my eyes.” He said.</p><p>  She gave another harsh laugh.</p><p>  “Serves you right for trying to trick me.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Surprise, I was trying to surprise you.”</p><p>  “And you have.” She said leaning forwards and giving him a light kiss on the lips.</p><p>  “I’m soggy.” He replied.</p><p>  “No round two then?”</p><p>  “Very very tempting, but my arse is covered in mud. I have a strong horse; the castle is closer than my house, I suggest we both go and get warm.”</p><p><br/>  Cassandra nodded. They found their clothing, littered at it was in the moss-covered circle and started to pull wet clothing onto wet bodies, shivering as they did so now that the warmth of each other’s touch had faded. The night suddenly darkened, and Cassandra turned to see Varian carefully extinguishing the lanterns.</p><p>  “Wouldn’t want there to be a fire.” He said as he walked over to join her, his leather jacket still in his hands. He draped it over her shoulders with a fond smile. “Let’s hope we can get some hot cocoa when we get to the castle.”</p><p>  Cassandra just smiled in response and waited as he finished packing away his telescope. Still shivering she reached her hands into the pockets of his jacket hoping to keep them warm, but as she did she felt a small square object in the pocket. Without thinking she drew it out and looked puzzled at the small ring box in front of her. Perhaps, she thought, it wasn’t a ring box, and it had some part of her necklace inside.</p><p>  “Don’t!” Varian’s sharp cry made her jump.</p><p>  “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Cassandra said holding the small box out to him. He rushed forwards to grab it but stopped himself and gave a deep sigh his shoulders dropping.</p><p>  “I didn’t mean to snap. I just… I didn’t want you to see that.”</p><p>  “Why not? What is it?”</p><p>  “I uh…” His hand ran nervously through his hair. “Look, I uh… it’s silly.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “What’s silly?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “It’s a uh… “ He muttered something she didn’t quite hear.</p><p>  “An aged mint thing?”</p><p>  “Engagement ring.” He shouted. “Alright, it’s an engagement ring. Because I was desperate to win you over, because I was playing everything out in my mind like some kind of fairy tale. Okay?”</p><p>  “Uh..”</p><p>  “I was going to ask you to marry me, but now I’m not, I changed my mind.”</p><p>  “You changed your mind?”<br/> </p><p>  “It was a fantasy to believe that you would come back after not seeing me for seven years and agree to marry me right away. I realize now just how much of a fantasy I’ve been playing in my head since you came back, It’s just… I know nobody could ever hold a candle to you Cass.”</p><p><br/>“What happens when you realize your love for me is just a fantasy?”</p><p>  He scoffed.</p><p>  “I waited for that to happen for five or six years, but I just kept falling deeper and deeper.” He said with a bit of bitterness in his voice. “Time? I think we need time. I need time to prove to you that I do love you, the you from the letters at least. The you from seven years ago, the you from the masquerade and the you from twenty minutes ago, even the you that argued with me this morning.”</p><p>  “Varian, I’m saying No.”</p><p>   He looked at her his eyes widening.</p><p>  “To time or to…”</p><p>  “Marrying you.”</p><p>  “I didn’t ask though.” He shook his head. “I didn’t ask, and I still get turned down? Come on!”</p><p><br/>  She walked over and pressed her hands over the box.</p><p>  “But keep this, because I think…. I think after we get to know each other, become a bit surer of each other, I think I might like to say yes, because I loved the guy in the letters, the guy in the mask, the guy who argued with me and the guy who made me feel like a goddess. So, maybe, when I get to know that guy a bit better, maybe I’ll say yes.”</p><p>  He took a sharp intake of breath and stared at her, his face so open and honest now, the shadow of a fourteen-year-old alchemist who had invented an element for her.</p><p>  Then he fell onto her, his arms wrapping around her tightly as his wet nose buried into the skin of her neck, and she hugged him in turn, never wanting to let go.</p><p>  “Varian.” She whispered stroking her hand through his damp hair. “Let’s go to bed.”</p><p>  “Yes Milady.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Fantasy Revisited</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>  Fantasy Revisited.</p><p> </p><p>  I don’t even know what warnings to put on this one, I’m having one of those, I don’t know if this is awful or good moments. Anyhow, um… mild loving BDSM, with some light bondage and hot wax play – Cassandra is kinda new to this stuff so it dousn’t get into the hard stuff.</p><p>   I hope to hell I don’t have to tell anybody here that fanfiction is not a sex manual and to do your research in more reputable place if you like the sounds of it all.</p><p>  Oh yeah, this was weird to write so close to my own wedding.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>  The flickering orange lights of the fires danced across the dull metals. The long blades of farm equipment cast dancing shadows across the tiled flooring, and beyond the roar of the fires the night was silent, not a soul was awake outside the warm safety of the fires light. </p><p>  “Are we sure this is legal?”</p><p>   “Yes Eugene.” Rapunzel said slowly. “It’s an old law, but it’s never been written out.”</p><p>  “In the old days, I married a fair few couples.” Xavier said. “When they needed to have permission from a parent to marry, but their parents did not agree, they would come to me. “</p><p>  “Married by a blacksmith.” Eugene said, still sounding disbelieving. <br/><br/></p><p>  “Well, you see it all started when…”</p><p>  “Brief version please Xav.” Varian said with a smile.</p><p>  “Blacksmiths make the rings, so why not perform the marriages as well.” Xavier finished.<br/><br/></p><p>  “We didn’t want a fuss.” Cassandra explained slowly. “Our marriage is between us, it’s not a public affair, so the wedding dousn’t have to be.”<br/><br/></p><p>  Xavier nodded.</p><p>  “And you’re ready?” Eugene said looking at Cassandra. “You’ve only been engaged a week, if you need more time…”</p><p>  Varian turned to look at him, his eyebrows furrowed.</p><p>  “You are a terrible best man! You’re not meant to try and make the bride rethink.” He joked.<br/> </p><p>  Cassandra gave a wry smile.</p><p>  “I’m sure.” She assured Eugene. “I’m surer than I’ve ever been. I know where I’m meant to be now, and it’s with Varian.”</p><p>  “Wherever we end up, as long as it’s together then everything will be just fine.” Varian said looking at her softly.</p><p>  Cassandra reached out and touched his hand, as her fingers brushed his gently, she felt his hand clasp hers. She turned to him and gave him a little smile. His skin seemed golden in the flickering fire, glowing as if the happiness of the moment couldn’t be contained.</p><p>  “Let’s do this Xav!” Varian shouted happily.</p><p>  Cassandra held back a laugh. Having somebody, being able to with up most confidence swear to spend her whole life with somebody, it wasn’t something she’d ever expected to have, and if somebody had told her it would be from that socially awkward, desperate to impress fourteen year old boy she had met eleven years before, she would have laughed at them. She guessed sometimes home was found in the strangest of places.</p><p>  “The short version?” Xavier asked.</p><p>  Cassandra couldn’t help but let out a laugh this time.</p><p>  “Well, I have got other plans for tonight Xav.” Varian joked.</p><p>  “You can tell me all about the laws and the marriages you performed another day Xavier, in fact I think it would be wonderful if you wrote it all down for the castle library.” Rapunzel stepped in. “But I uh… think these two are a little eager.”</p><p>  Xavier gave a deep chuckle.</p><p>  “All those that came to me were always eager. So, I have made the ceremony quick. Take the rings in your hands ready to put on your partners fingers when you say ‘I do’. “</p><p>  “Okay.” Varian breathed as Xavier passed him the rings that he had made. Cassandra stretched her hand out to him and felt the cool metal of the ring drop into her palm. She glanced quickly at Varian, she could feel the gravity of that silent moment, but the idea that they were about to be married seemed t0o big to take in.</p><p>  They slowly turned to look at each other as Xavier began to speak.</p><p>  “Let your marriage be like the metals of the forge, joined in the fire of passion an unbreakable bond is formed. Varian, do you declare to take this woman as your wife, to love her, and protect her faithfully through good and bad times, forsaking all others?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “I do.” Varian said clearly.</p><p>  Cassandra’s chest felt heavy, full to the brim with an overwhelming sense of happiness. She was not one to cry, but she was surprised to feel her eyes start to water. She looked away for a moment, Varian reached for her hand and she felt the cool ring slip onto her finger. She looked at the plain gold band, she had decided to wear it on her scarred hand so that every time she looked down she could see her future and not her past.</p><p>  “Cassandra, do you take this man as your husband, to love him, and protect him, faithfully through good and bad times, forsaking all others?”</p><p>  For a moment she just stared into his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, the first part of him that she had seen on the night of the masquerade. She could sink into those eyes. She loved them, she loved everything about him. She could feel him holding his breathe next to her. She took a deep breathe herself. </p><p>  “I do.” She breathed out.</p><p>  There was a sniff and Cassandra remembered for a moment that it wasn’t just her and Varian in the forge. She looked across to see Rapunzel wiping her eyes, Eugene’s arm was wrapped around her shoulder. He gave her a fond smile when he saw her looking at them.</p><p>  “Place your hands on the anvil.” Xavier said drawing her attention back.</p><p>  Cassandra placed her good hand on the cool metal, milliseconds later it was joined by Varian’s his little finger touching hers.</p><p>  “It cannot be undone.”  Xavier shouted as he brought his hammer down onto the anvil. The shook of it reverberated in Cassandra’s wrist as the sound rang out, echoing around the quiet city. For a moment she was still, looking down at their hands on the metal, his darker than hers, but both callused from a lifetime of hard work. She moved, just slightly, to press her little finger more firmly against his, but he took her hand from the cold metal and held it in between the warmth of his palms. She looked up at him.</p><p>  “We’re married.” He said, a tone of amazement in his voice.</p><p>  “I have seen the both of you grow up, and I am proud of what you have become. It has been an honor to be here tonight.” Xavier said, though if asked later Cassandra wouldn’t have remembered a word of it, because for the first time, she was looking at her husband.</p><p>  “Uh.. Xav’s.” Varian said turning to the older man. “Um… Isn’t there a bit you missed?”</p><p>  Xavier put his hand to his chin.</p><p>  “No... I do not think so. You are legally married. Princess, you are aware of the laws, have I missed any part?”</p><p>  Rapunzel shook her head.</p><p>  “Legally married, I can confirm.” She said, smiling widely despite the line of tears working its way down her face.</p><p>  Varian sighed and shot a pained look at Eugene who was holding back a laugh.</p><p>  “Oh, okay! I’ll do it.” Eugene said.  “You may kiss… oh never mind, they’re already at it.”<br/><br/></p><p>  The kiss was like every kiss they had ever shared rolled into one. That innocent peck on the cheek she had given a fourteen year old boy to make him feel better, the obligatory kiss on the lips on his eighteenth birthday, then the passion of the night of the masquerade, his desperation not to loose her the next day – all the time they had spent together seemed to roll into this one moment. It was like Cassandra could look into her future and see the kisses to come, one solid thing to ground her in the storm that life sometimes became.</p><p>  There was a cheering next to them, and when they finally parted Cassandra turned to see her friends grinning widely at her. This was right, everybody knew that this was right, and for the first time in years she felt sure that she had made the right choice.</p><p>***</p><p>  Cassandra looked down at the cool metal mask in her hands, the mask that was the start of it all, the mask that allowed unspoken feelings to be spoken, vulnerabilities to be shown. She raised it up feeling the coolness of the metal against her face, her fingers trailed lightly over the satin ties, but a hand gently touched hers. She let her arms drop to the side as he tied the satin ribbons at the back of her head.</p><p>  She turned around and saw him stood before her, her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him. They had not made love since that first night, it had been an unspoken agreement between them as they worked on forming a more traditional relationship. One different from those that they’d had before, where sex had been cheap frills with no underlying love. They’d been drawn to working on how to express love for one enough in other ways, shy words of encouragement, meals made and drinks fetched, little trails of finger tips along the spine that made anxiety melt away. A thousand ways to speak without speaking, and yet, they had managed that too, soft honest words that required no poetry except the beat of a heart. Now, he was stood before her once more, hardlines of muscles, a dusting across his chest of dark hair. She could not believe that something so perfect could exist, it was as if he were a statue and not a living man, but as she reached out her fingers to touch his stomach, she could feel the warmth of him, reassuring her this was reality, her reality now.</p><p>  On his face he had chosen to wear a plain leather black mask. Although they had talked about it, talked about fantasies and limits, she was still slightly thrown by the mask until she saw those soft blue eyes behind it. Sensing her discomfort, he reached out to her brushing a strand of hair gently away from her face.</p><p>  “Are you okay?”</p><p>   She nodded.</p><p>  “Do you trust me?”</p><p>  “Completely.”</p><p>   His hand trailed a familiar pattern down her back, and his head bent to place a light kiss on her neck. So gentle, yet so thrilling to her.</p><p>  “Then disrobe and come to my room.” He whispered, turning to leave. He hesitated when he reached the doorway. “Our room.” He corrected himself.</p><p>  Cassandra stared at the movement of his firm haunches, as he left her room. Then alone she took a deep steadying breath. The anticipation was heavy on her chest, dancing in her stomach, the energy of it felt almost too much as if at some point she would just break from it. She noticed her hands trembling slightly as she began to undo the buttons of her blouse.</p><p> She pulled the soft golden silk robe onto her naked skin, everywhere it touched seemed to tingle as if she was being caressed, her whole body seemed more sensitive tonight. She padded on bare feet across the hall to his room. Their room now she reminded herself.</p><p>  She opened the door slowly, an orange glow falling across the hall.  She took a deep breathe, trying to steady herself, trying to stay calm, the anticipation sometimes just hanging on the edge of nerves. Then she crossed the threshold. The room was filled with dozens of burning candles, they stood on the dark wood cabinets, shelves, and side tables. Stood before the red curtains of the bed, was the naked form of her husband. His arms were stretched out, holding onto each post of the bed, his shoulder blades were bunched up, the line of his spine visible, stopping inches above the plump raises of his buttocks.  He turned to her, and she could see his manhood standing as strong and firm as the rest of him. She looked behind him and saw some black ribbons tied around the far bed posts, resting against the red satin of the pillows.</p><p>  His hand reached out for her, and wordlessly she stepped into his arms, feeling his warmth and comfort as he just held her for a few moments. Then he stepped back and undid the tie of her gown, brushing it down of her shoulders till it dropped, a soft golden pool on the wooden floorboards. She heard his soft intake of breath, felt his eyes roaming over her as if trying to take in every detail of her bare skin.</p><p> “Perfect.” He said, then he shook his head. “No, somehow that word dousn’t do you justice.”</p><p>  Cassandra understood, the young man stood in front of her, at the prime of his life, in peak physical fitness, his body shaped by the sometimes-hard work that he did, not muscle bound from training but slim and toned. He was just statuesque, the most beautiful being she had ever seen, but she didn’t have the words to tell him.</p><p>  She’d been so caught up with simply looking at him that it caught her off guard when he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. He backed away moments later, a hint of concern in his blue eyes.</p><p>  “Is this too much?” He asked.</p><p>  “No! No.” She said breathlessly. “I just got distracted for a moment.”</p><p>  His lips set in a firm line, obviously not convinced.</p><p>  “You can tell me if you’ve changed your mind about any of this. I have no problems getting rid of all of this.” He made a gesture with his hand that Cassandra assumed meant the things he’d laid out in the room, seen and unseen, that they’d talked about exploring on this there first night as a married couple.  “Maybe we should have kept things basic.”</p><p>  She stepped forwards and laced her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck.</p><p>  “Varian, when was anything about us ever going to be basic?”</p><p>  She kissed him then, a kiss that she hoped would tell him just how much she wanted him, just how ready for all of this she was. The things they had discussed in the last week, the details and plans that he’d put in place, had all put images in her mind. Images that had kept her awake at night as she had laid there, knowing she was only a few feet from his room. Twice she had got up from her bed and walked over to her door, they weren’t married, but it didn’t matter because they had been together before, they had been with other people before. Yet, somehow it did matter. Somehow it was important for them to hold off. The fact that it was difficult, well that had just led to her being more and more eager for this night and for all the new experiences it held.</p><p>  “I’m ready.” She said pulling away. She wordlessly laid on the bed, she stretched her arms out above her, ready for him to secure her wrists near the bad frame with those satin ribbons. He stopped for a moment looking her over again before her knelt on the bed beside her and started to tie the black satin ribbons around her wrists.</p><p>“Too tight?”</p><p> </p><p>  She pulled against them slightly.</p><p> </p><p> “Comfy.” She reassured him.</p><p> </p><p>  He leaned over her, whispering into her ear.</p><p> </p><p> "Come up with a word for if you want me to stop.”</p><p> </p><p> He leaned back, his thumb traveling over her open bottom lip as his hand cupped her cheek. She stared breathlessly for a moment, the trace of his thumb still on her lips even after it had left. He waited patiently for her.</p><p> </p><p>  "I won't."</p><p> </p><p>  "Just in case. I need to know that you’re going to be alright.”</p><p> </p><p>"Just…” She swallowed, her mind blank. She looked around the room and her eyes alighted on the bay window, she remembered when they’d talked sat in that window with cups of cocoa, talking about safety and boundaries, and fantasies and plans. "Cocoa."</p><p> </p><p>  "Cocoa?"</p><p> </p><p>  "Cocoa is warm and safe."</p><p> </p><p>  "Cocoa it is. Though later we might have to change it." He said pulling the ribbon tighter before tying it in off.</p><p> </p><p> "Change it?"</p><p> </p><p>  "To something you can say clearly with a gag in your mouth. For now, though, I want to hear you."</p><p> </p><p>  She just nodded; the anticipation was becoming too much. His fingers ran down her neck as he talked, as if he couldn’t bear to be separated from her for a single second.</p><p> </p><p>  Complete surrender, that was the fantasy they had talked about a few mornings ago. He would become her husband and she would show him her trust by putting herself fully in his hands. Still, she knew that he would never harm her, she knew he would be patient with her, knew that she still had the control. Even if she didn’t want it, even if she just wanted to let him take care of her, even if his fantasies had excited her, his words from the night of the masquerade filling her mind in the months that she had lived with him.</p><p> </p><p>  “Okay, just remember cocoa. The minute something feels wrong I stop.”</p><p> </p><p>  His hot mouth placed a wet kiss just below her shoulder, then he trailed downwards slowly, his eyes kept glancing up – meeting hers, keeping her attention, making sure that she was watching him.         He kissed down between her breasts, down her stomach, the edges of her hips.</p><p> </p><p>  “Open your legs. We’re going to try this again.”</p><p> </p><p>  She swallowed; they had discussed it. It wasn’t a limit, but she hadn’t expected them to try again so soon.</p><p> </p><p>  “I uh... I’m not sure.”</p><p> </p><p>  His eyes were hard as he looked at her. He wasn’t the Varian that made her cocoa anymore, he was the Varian in the mask, the dominant one. His body had changed in subtle ways, his back had become straighter, his stare more intense, something confident and hard had entered him.  </p><p> </p><p>  “I was telling, not asking.” He said, his hands firmly parting her thighs.</p><p> </p><p> Cassandra sucked in a breath through her teeth, the games had begun. Submit, she told herself, it was Varian, he would never hurt her. She felt his lips on her thigh, moving in tiny kisses closer and closer to her core. She leaned up slightly to look at him, it was not nearly as awkward as when she’d been over his face. This position felt more natural to her, she laid back flat, trying just to relax. The anticipation mixing with nerves till she couldn’t say what she was really feeling. Then his tongue was upon her, massaging her swollen lips. Slowly, she felt the slight tension leave her muscles as she sunk deeper into the soft mattress. Then his tongue flicked her clit, her hips bucked upwards as she let out a little gasp. She’d been waiting to be with him for so long, but this, she hadn’t expected this part to feel so good. His tongue was dancing on her in patterns she couldn’t begin to understand but it all felt like tingling flames running inside of her, melting away all the tensions and uncertainty. She could feel shivers running though her body, her whole focus moving from just that one spot to all the nerves in her body as pleasure ran up and out of them. She had never expected to feel this ways so quickly, but then she’d never felt this kind of anticipation for so long. She could feel herself coming, her back arching, racing towards that delicious completion… but then it stopped. She looked down at Varian, as he raised himself up to sit between her legs, a satisfied smirk on his face.</p><p> </p><p>  “I want you.” She said, slightly embarrassed when it escaped her throat in a whine.<br/> </p><p>  “Not yet, I am nowhere near done with you yet.”</p><p> </p><p>  He got up and reached for one of the candles. Cassandra’s body was already buzzing with unfulfilled energy wanting to explode out, but it seemed like Varian wasn’t yet done with her. He met her eyes and held the candle over her body, tilting it slowly so that she could see the red liquid wax at the centre begin to move towards her. The melted wax slowly ran to the edge of the candle. Cassandra watched it as it sat suspended for a moment, she held her breath, then the wax was dropping heavily through the air and for a moment, just a split second, she felt a burning spot of heat hit her stomach, she let out a gasp, but it was already starting to cool into a warm tingle.</p><p> </p><p>  “Too hot?” Varian asked, his face intent upon hers.</p><p>  “No.” She said shaking her head. “I can handle more.”<br/><br/></p><p>  His lips twitched in a barely concealed smirk, something between enjoyment and pride, a fantasy about to be fulfilled.</p><p>  “Let’s just go slow for now.”</p><p>  “Yes, my lord.”</p><p>  She could see the effects of her words on him, it was so simple, so safe, yet it seemed to stir the fire within him, his member twitching at the syllables.</p><p>   More wax dripped onto her stomach, and she gasped, her hands finding the satin ties and clutching at them as she groaned with the sensation. She was losing herself in him, letting go of control, yet she’d never felt safer.</p><p>  She could feel the wax running up in a line from below her belly button up to the edges of her ribs, and then starting back again at the original spot, and slowly, ever so slowly, running up again.  She raised her head and looked down at the wax on her stomach, it had left a red trail in a distinctive V mark, an impermanent branding of his initial.</p><p>  “I’m bound to you.” She muttered, the thought just hitting her again – they were married now, they belonged to each other now.</p><p>  “Now and forever my love.” He replied, his voice soft.</p><p>   He kissed her gently above her belly button, then moved up and kissed another trail up between her breasts, nipping gently at the skin, leaving more little red marks that he stared lovingly at and ran his thumb over. Love bites, painful for a second, but reminders in the days to come of what they’d done together, reminders that he had claimed her, marked her, in this instinctive manner. It made her happy to look at them, she could not explain why, but some part of her loved that he wanted to mark her so clearly as his.</p><p>  “Varian…” She gasped as he nipped at her skin again. She moved to grasp his hair, but the restraints around her wrists tightened, she pulled at them gently, but could not move her arms more than a few inches above the bed. Her eyes met his as she looked up and he gave a smug smile.</p><p>  “I’m nowhere done with you yet.” He reminded her.</p><p><br/>  He reached for another candle this time turning it over her quickly and without warning. Cassandra bucked at the return of sensation; hot droplets splashed onto her breasts. He lowered the candle a little and she felt the wax getting hotter, there was more of a sting when it first touched her, and it stayed warmer a little longer. She let out a small gasping scream as the wax dripped one of her hardened nipples. Varian let out a deep chuckle as he moved the candle over and hung it a few inches above her other nipple, she watched biting her lip, as he stared intensely at her. The moment lasted an unbearable amount of time as he teased her with his stillness. Then it splashed down onto her and she bucked and gasped again.  Her whole body felt hot, as if lines of flame were bursting up outwards, from her breasts, from her groin, from her lips when he bent to place a soft kiss upon them.</p><p>   “Ask me for more.” Varian said bending over her and whispering in her ear.</p><p>  She pursed her lips and shook her head, it was too much, she just wanted him inside of her, wanted to feel his lips against hers as he filled her. Her husband, she needed to be his. This act, it made her his, the promises and rings weren’t enough.  She needed him to claim her, for them to be married fully, unable to be undone. He stared at her waiting</p><p>  “Kiss me.” She asked.</p><p>  He kissed her, fast and hungry, his tongue delving into hers. She kept forgetting that she was tied up and reached for him only to find herself pulling against the wrist ties. Remembering that her legs were free she wrapped them around him, using them to pull him closer, feeling his hardness rubbing against her stomach so close to where she wanted it.</p><p>  “Don’t you want me?” She whispered in his ear.</p><p>  “Can’t you feel how much I do?”</p><p>  “Then why are you waiting?”</p><p>  “Because it’s worth waiting sometimes. Just let me take care of you. Then I promise you, I’ll make you understand how much I want you. Your skin, it’s too beautiful for me to let it get damaged.”</p><p>  He had sat up and had reached out to one of the nearby tables. He picked up a glass bottle and a square of silk. He poured the contents of the bottle onto her. It was a sweet-smelling oil, she couldn’t place the smell, sandalwood with something else perhaps, but it was pleasant and made her shaking energy-filled body relax slightly.  The oil was soothing and cool on her hot skin and as Varian poured it he took the small silken cloth and rubbed lightly at the trails of hot wax, brushing them off, revealing the slightly reddened skin underneath.</p><p>  “Beautiful.” He muttered. “Better than a dream.” For a moment he dropped the cloth, and his fingers just lightly traced the V on her stomach. “I still can’t believe that you’re mine.”</p><p>  “I am.”</p><p>  “Tell me again.”</p><p>  “I’m yours, my Lord.”</p><p>  “Mine.” He said his tone turning fierce as his head dipped to her shoulder and she felt the sudden pain of teeth digging into skin, harder than before.</p><p>  His oiled hands slipped up her arms until they clutched at her wrists, his body spreading out on top of hers, covering her completely. Then, before she knew what was happening, he was moving inside of her, forceful and fast, and exactly what she needed. Her back arched up against him her heels digging into the mattress uselessly as she tried to push herself up closer to him, trying to get him further inside of her, although he was already filling her completely. Every movement stoked the embers that had been building in her stomach, until it was like a raging fire.</p><p>  There were grunts, moans, the incessant push, push, push inside her, everything too much and never enough. Her legs wrapped around him again, and her hands struggled against their ties until finally she found that she could push up against the headboard, her muscles straining, but it pushed him that bit further into her burning core, that intense spot inside of her where everything was building to intensity. Her muscles becoming tenser and tenser, panting as she struggled to fill her lungs because every push inside her made her gasp and moan out a symphony of pleasure.</p><p>  Varian was everywhere, his body entwined with hers, and although there was very little room in her mind for anything except the pleasure that was overwhelming her, she was sharing every moment of it with him. Firm muscle under slick skin, the slight rough irritation of his body hair against her, finger grasping hard onto thighs, pants coming from above her, wet kissed placed on her lips. Then she felt his breath close to her ear, felt the firm cool leather of his mask against her skin.</p><p>  He whispered to her breathlessly.</p><p>  “Eleven years. I’ve been dreaming of this for eleven years, how is it better than I dreamt? You feel so good, wet and tight and just…”</p><p>  He placed a kiss, chase and loving on her neck, but it reminded her of all the chaste kisses they had shared, this was Varian, her husband, he was hers. Somehow, he had always been hers, and with that thought molten heat overtook her, flooding her every limb, white hot pleasure, sluggish like lava, filled every inch of her. It burned intense, nothing existing in the world at that moment except her body and that feeling. </p><p>  Then it started to cool, and he was there, still moving within her. She felt happy, and completely relaxed, her skin felt slightly hot, slightly sensitive, her muscles ached but felt heavy and relaxed. Varian’s movements had slowed, gentler, but she knew he’d not reached completion. She wasn’t concerned though, it meant more time enjoying the relaxing, now familiar push inside of her, feeling the loose shivers running up and down her body. Varian kissed her, his tongue dancing fiercely against hers, she returned it lazily, in that moment, more in love with him than she’d ever been. Then she felt his hand working it’s way between their bodies, and she opened her eyes in shock as his thumb pushed against her clit sending a jolting wave of energy up through her core and along her spine.</p><p>  It was almost immediate, the way the tensions started to rebuild in her body. She twisted and turned as if trying to escape it this time, she couldn’t explain why, it was just always on the edge of too much. Her legs unwrapped from around him, splaying over the bed. Every touch made her wither, her body too sensitive, yet he did not stop, and she didn’t want him too. Feathers of flames traced themselves along her skin, so hot and intense that she thought when it was all over, she would find them there tattooed on her skin. The pleasure overwhelmed her again, she could do nothing but let the rapture come over her body once again, the explosions, coming and coming white and hot, drawing everything out of her in a scream that shattered the night.</p><p>  She was done.</p><p>  All energy gone, she could do nothing but lie still, feeling the thundering beat of her blood pulsing through her body.</p><p>  She was spent.</p><p>  He was not.</p><p> “Again!" He demanded, his thumb still circling her over sensitive clit.</p><p>  She shook her head, her body was trembling, she had no control as her muscles clenched and bucked without her wanting them too, the pleasure was just overwhelming her yet again, almost frightening her with its intensity. Her arms pulled at the ribbons against her wrists feeling the discomfort as they tightened and dug a little too far into her skin.</p><p> "No." She said.</p><p> </p><p>  "Cocoa?" The firm voice above her asked. She looked up into the intense blue eyes, the eyes that gad never changed, would never change- would always look at her with either soft love or possessive intenseness </p><p> She shook her head.</p><p> "No." </p><p>However impossible it seemed to let that burning pleasure rake over her once more, she knew she would, she knew she would let him take her to the edge of hell or paradise, and whatever laid between, because she was safe in his hands. She was already half way there anyways, heaven or hell she did not know, but her body had not shattered with the volcanic power of her two orgasms, it wouldn’t this time either. It would come, and she would be left whole.  Something was building, something slightly different from before, she could feel a pressure, building deep inside her. A swelling almost. It just kept growing, she was desperate for it to release.  </p><p>  Varian was groaning, his hips were starting to faulter against her. He was losing control, she could see his face flush under the black mask, his eyes closed, but she couldn’t concentrate on him for more than a few seconds because of the thing building within her. The pressure was intense, and this time as it broke out of her with a strangled scream she was aware of liquid running down her legs as the pressure subsided.</p><p>  When she came too, she saw Varian's face a stunned look of pure extasy as he looked down at her. Then with an almost pained grunt she felt his muscles clenching everywhere they touched her, he stiffened, and his hips stuttered. After what seemed to last for an eternity he slumped against her gasping. </p><p>  Time stopped, the candlelight flickered across bare limbs that were impossibly tangled, they moved against each other trying to find positions where they wouldn’t ache quite so much. Messy hair trailed over damp skin, slight kisses littered in spots neither could identify as they stretched out against each other. Cassandra felt strangely cold as the sweat dried on her skin. As her exhausted body grew used to it’s emptiness she felt as if she was more within her body than she had been in years. It was like the early days when she trained, and she was over aware of how every muscle was stretching, how every part of her body connected with each other. It was lonely, for a moment, to be so inside her own body, with him so still next to her, but then he met her eyes and she had the sense that he was experiencing the same thing and she wasn’t alone anymore.</p><p>  “Oh.” He said suddenly going from still to jumping into action. She was about to ask what the problem was but he was kneeling beside her already, his fingers working at the tight knots that held her wrists. She let out a little hiss as he freed the first one, the ribbons had tightened as she’d moved and had rubbed on her skin making it feel a little raw. As he released the second one she pulled her hands down, flexing her fingers and rubbing at the light red circle that the ties had left.</p><p>  “Let me look.” Varian said pulling her hand towards him. His lips were pursed and she could tell he wasn’t happy about something.</p><p> </p><p>  “Does it hurt?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “No, well, maybe a little.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Any tingling?”</p><p>  “No.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Movements fine?”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Varian, calm down, it’s fine. It’s not as bad as it looks.”<br/><br/></p><p>  He took a deep breathe.</p><p>  “Okay then.” He said relaxing back next to her. “I need to invent a better way.” He muttered as if to himself.</p><p>  “Hey.” She said putting her hand on his cheek and rolling so that she was pressed up against his side. “It’s okay.”</p><p>  He smiled at her and turned his head to kiss her palm. His hands reached behind her head and untied the mask, she’d almost forgot she was wearing it. He smiled brightly at her as it came away from her face.</p><p>  “There you are.” He said softly.</p><p>  Cassandra lifted her heavy limbs and unhooked his own mask. He looked younger, gentler, without it and she found herself instantly snuggling into his chest. Her fingers tracing over his taut and darkened nipples lazily. Every part of her was exhausted, but under the ache there was a deep sense of wellbeing, a liquid relaxation. Varian fingers came up and tangled in her hair.</p><p>   “You doing okay?” He asked her.</p><p>  “Fantastic.” She replied, placing a small kiss above his heart.</p><p>  He let out a tiny chuckle, and she looked up at him questioningly.</p><p>  “You’re my wife.” He explained. “That’s… wow.”<br/><br/></p><p>  “Yeah.” She agreed relaxing back into him. “Who’d have thought.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  And they lived happily and hornily ever after.</p><p>  The End</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>